Despite Danger, US Coal Mining Deaths Are Rare

(April 6) -- The disaster in Montcoal, W.Va., is a grim reminder of the dangers coal miners face. Statistics are of little comfort to those who live with the risks every day, but coal mining deaths have declined dramatically over the past 40 years.

There were 18 fatalities last year, the lowest since the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration started keeping records.

U.S. mine safety has come a long way in a century. Congress created the Bureau of Mines after a blast killed 362 people in Monongah, W.Va., on Dec. 6, 1907. It was the nation's worst coal mine disaster.

More recently, an explosion killed 38 at the Finley mine in Hyden, Ky., on Dec. 30, 1970. It happened a year to the day after passage of the law that created what is now the MSHA. The Kentucky House passed a bill just last week to designate the long-abandoned mine a state historic site and build a memorial to the miners who died.

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In 1984, 27 perished in a fire at the Emery mine in Orangeville, Utah. Explosions killed 26 at the Scotia mine in Oven Fork, Ky., in 1976 and 13 at the Jim Walter No. 5 mine in Brookwood, Ala., in 2001.

This latest disaster revived memories of the 2006 methane gas blast that trapped 13 men in West Virginia's Sago mine. The incident was all the more tragic because the miners' families were initially told that everyone was alive. Twelve miners died, but one -- Randal McCloy -- somehow survived more than 40 hours of exposure to carbon monoxide and was rescued.

Deaths have declined over the years, as has the number of American coal miners. There are about 130,000 miners in the U.S. now, compared with a peak of more than a quarter-million 30 years ago. Even with fewer workers in the mines, the death rate has fallen from 180 per 100,000 miners in 1970 to 13 per 100,000 last year.

MSHA Director Joe Main said he thought the coal mining industry had turned the corner on preventing fatal accidents -- until disaster struck Monday in West Virginia.

Source:Mine Safety and Health Administration