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Mine Safety and Health At a Glance

07/20/2015

U.S. Department of Labor
Mine Safety and Health Administration

Safety and health in America's mining industry made significant strides during the 20th century and over the last 35 years in particular. In 1978, the first year the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) operated under the new Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 242 miners died in mining accidents. MSHA continues to work to reduce injuries, illnesses and death through strong enforcement as well as active outreach, education and training, and technical support to the mining industry.

Downward trend of fatalities from 1978 to 2014. There were nearly 250 fatalities in 1978, and there were under 50 in 2014.

All Mine Safety and Health

CY
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Number of Mines 14,907 14,631 14,283 14,176 14,093 13,761 13,608
Number of Miners 392,746 355,720 361,176 381,209 387,878 374,522 366,584
Fatalities 53 35 72 36 36 42 45
Fatal Injury Rate1 0.0156 0.0119 0.0237 0.0110 0.0110 0.0132 0.0144
All Injury Rate1 3.25 3.01 2.81 2.75 2.56 2.49 2.44
Total Mining Area Inspection Hours/Mine2 56 59 63 62 61 59 58
Citations and Orders Issued3 173,549 173,068 170,065 156,380 138,960 118,203 121,474
S&S Citations and Orders (%) 27% 29% 32% 29% 26% 25% 25%
Dollar Amount Assessed (Millions)4 143.4 137.4 163.5 161.4 122.9 94.3 94.5

*Values are all inclusive of operator and contractor employees.

Coal Mine Safety and Health

CY
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014*
Number of Coal Mines 2,129 2,076 1,944 1,973 1,871 1,701 1,632
Number of Miners 133,828 133,089 135,500 143,437 137,650 123,259 116,010
Fatalities 30 18 48 20 20 20 16
Fatal Injury Rate1 .0237 .0148 .0384 .0148 .0159 .0176 .0150
All Injury Rate1 3.89 3.69 3.43 3.43 3.16 3.11 3.11
States with Coal Mining 26 26 26 26 26 26 26
Coal Production (Millions of Tons) 1,172 1,075 1,086 1,095 1,018 984 1,000
Total Mining Area Inspection Hours/Mine2 227 238 259 258 250 248 252
FY Inspection Completion Rate (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Citations and Orders Issued3 106,793 101,904 96,352 93,077 78,857 63,217 62,684
S&S Citations and Orders (%) 32% 30% 32% 31% 27% 26% 26%
Dollar Amount Assessed (Millions)4 111.5 96.5 110.7 120.2 89.5 64.9 61.2

*Values are all inclusive of operator and contractor employees.

Metal and Nonmetal Mine Safety and Health

CY
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014*
Number of Metal/Nonmetal Mines 12,778 12,555 12,339 12,203 12,222 12,060 11,976
Number of Miners 258,918 221,631 225,676 237,772 250,228 251,263 250,574
Fatalities 23 17 24 16 16 22 29
Fatal Injury Rate1 .0107 .0098 .0134 .0084 .0079 .0108 .0142
All Injury Rate1 2.87 2.54 2.37 2.28 2.19 2.13 2.09
States with M/NM Mining 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Total Mining Area Inspection Hours/Mine2 21 22 23 23 22 22 23
FY Inspection Completion Rate (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100**
Citations and Orders Issued3 66,756 71,164 73,713 63,303 60,103 54,986 58,790
S&S Citations and Orders (%) 21% 29% 31% 26% 25% 24% 24%
Dollar Amount Assessed (Millions)4 31.8 40.9 52.9 41.2 33.5 29.4 33.3

*Values are all inclusive of operator and contractor employees.
**MNM completed 16,270 regular inspections in 2014. Primarily because of the number of intermittent operations in
MNM, its inspectors attempted but could not conduct another 559 regular inspections. MNM conducted 100% of
mandatory inspections at mines available for inspection in 2014.

Mine Contractors

CY
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014*
Coal Fatalities 12 8 4 6 2 2 3
MNM Fatalities 6 6 10 4 3 2 9
Total Fatalities 18 14 14 10 5 4 12
Coal Fatal Injury Rate1 .0456 .0331 .0158 .0220 .0077 .0088 .0142
MNM Fatal Injury Rate1 .0150 .0211 .0326 .0108 .0072 .0046 .0222
Total Fatal Injury Rate1 .0271 .0266 .0250 .0155 .0074 .0061 .0195

1-Reported injuries per 200,000 hours worked
2-Total Mining Area Time includes: On-site Inspection Time (M/NM), MMU Pit Time (Coal), Outby Area Time (Coal), Surface Area Time (Coal), Citation/Order writing On-Site. On-site inspection hours represent hours entered by Authorized Representatives of the Secretary (AR) for certain inspection activities and task codes.
3-Citations and orders are those not vacated
4-Based on date issued.

For more information:
www.msha.gov - MSHA Office of Program Education and Outreach Services, (202) 693-9400