Mining Accidents Lead to ‘Troubling’ 31% Jump in Worker Deaths

More than three dozen workers died in mining accidents over the past fiscal year, a 31% increase that the US Labor Department’s top mine safety enforcer called “troubling.”

Electrocution, suffocation, and drowning led to some of the 42 mine worker deaths in fiscal year 2023, according to a recent government report. The fatalities at mines that dig out coal, metals, and gravel are the most in nearly a decade for an industry that has seen an influx of new employees.

“I don’t think there is just one thing that is driving it,” Christopher Williamson, the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, said in an interview. “There are a number of issues and it’s a culmination of all those things.”

Inexperience on the job could be a factor, Williamson said. The number of miners grew about 3% in FY 2023 to 321,400, according to agency data.

The jump in fatalities also coincided with MSHA’s enforcement efforts for all mining dangers, returning to the higher levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, agency data showed. The agency issued 94,494 citations and orders in FY 2023, a 10% boost over FY 2022 and the most since 2019. Assessed penalties grew 15% from the prior year to $62.8 million.

“This isn’t a problem you can solve only through enforcement,” Williamson said, pointing to the need for more worker training.

Upcoming rulemaking to bolster safety for workers using large machinery or driving vehicles on the surface of mines also will be “a key tool moving forward,” he said.

Interactive map: Machinery-related deaths were most common in fiscal year 2023.

Experience Counts

The increase in deaths came from accidents at metal and non-metal mines where coal isn’t dug out. That category is broad—from gold and silver mines to gravel pits.

Non-coal miners accounted for 32 deaths in fiscal 2023, 12 more than the prior year. Deaths among coal miners decreased to 10 from 12 in the same time frame.

Five workers died during their first week at their mine, including two fatalities on the first day, according to MSHA. Another seven deaths occurred among miners who had been with their mine for about one to two years.

As for overall mining experience, six of the miners had been in the industry for about one year or less and three had about two years of experience, the agency said.

Erin Bates, communications director for the United Mine Workers of America, which primarily represents coal miners, said veteran miners retired during the Covid-19 pandemic and “the workforce has substantially changed.”

With the rise in newer workers, mine operators need to ensure workers get training for their tasks and equipment, and that a mine’s potential hazards are identified and corrected, Williamson said.

And miners need to raise safety concerns with supervisors and MSHA. “It’s really important for them to speak up,” Williamson said.

Interactive chart: mining fatalities are trending towards a ten year high.

Rulemaking on Horizon

One of the most common causes of deaths was contact with machinery, which resulted in 15 fatalities. Among the cases were a worker struck by a rock crusher’s heavy component when a temporary weld failed, a steel water pipe breaking apart and hitting a worker who was disassembling the pipe, and multiple examples of bulldozer operators being ejected when their machines slid or tumbled down a slope.

Ten deaths involved accidents with vehicles hauling material, known as powered haulage in mining terms. Incidents included a driver killed when his truck backed through a berm and overturned, a miner hit by a conveyor belt component that had broken free, and a miner crushed by stone that was dumped into a hopper he was working in.

MSHA is nearing the release of a final rule for preventing powered haulage accidents (RIN:1219-AB91).

The rule is expected to require mine operators to create written safety programs for mobile equipment and powered haulage equipment used in surface mines, such as rock quarries, and the above-ground areas of coal mines.

Implementing the rule will be a way to focus the industry’s attention on the dangers posed by moving vehicles and large machinery, Williamson said.

Representatives of the National Mining Association and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, when asked to discuss the increase in deaths, pointed to their own safety efforts.

“The US mining industry has taken voluntary steps to accelerate the pace of mine safety improvement by implementing best practices that encourage a culture of safety,” said Ashley Burke, the mining association’s senior vice president for communications.

Burke pointed to CORESafety, an initiative that includes a five-year program for individual mines to reduce their injury rates by 50% and have no fatalities.