U.S. Mines Remain Deadly Workplaces
Wall Street Journal
April 11, 2014
Fatalities at U.S. mines rose in 2013 as 42 workers lost their lives on the
job, the Labor Department said.
The latest figures cover coal, metal and nonmetal (commodities like salt,
potash and gravel) mining. Mining support services, which in 2012 accounted
for 114 fatalities, and the oil and gas industries fall outside the latest
report.
"The data show that while the 2013 overall injury rate improved from the
prior year to an historic low, fatality rates increased, driven by a high
number of mining deaths in the 4th quarter of 2013 when 15 miners died,"
the Labor Department said.
There were .0132 fatalities per 200,000 hours worked last year, versus .0110
in 2012.
The mining industry has shed workers and mine safety has improved markedly
since 1978, the first year of the Mine Safety and Health Administration; 242
workers died that year. Fatalities are also well below 2010′s level, when
29 miners were killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch-South coal
mine in West Virginia, the industry's worst accident in 40 years.
Still, the occupation remains dangerous and Mine Safety and Health
Administration reports from the year make for grim reading. One example:
"On November 17, 2013, a 33-year old powderman trainee with 5 weeks of
experience and a 59-year old shift supervisor with 36 years of experience
were killed at a silver mine. The two miners were in an area of the mine
where explosives had been detonated the day before. Other miners working in
the area were able to evacuate. Mine rescue teams entered the mine, found
the two victims, and brought them to the surface. During the recovery
operation, rescue teams detected fatal levels of carbon monoxide. Twenty
miners were taken to the hospital and three were kept overnight."
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Directorate General of Mines Safety, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India
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