Mining Facts - 2007 (HTML)

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Mining Operations
Employees
Fatalities
Mining operations, 2007
Contracting companies, 2007
Employment characteristics, 2007
Mining Occupational Fatalities (per 100,000 FTE employees), 2007
Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries (per 100 FTE employees), 2007

DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2009–157

Mining Operations

In 2007, a total of 14,871 mining operations reported employment data to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). [1] Almost half (48.4%) were sand and gravel mines, followed by stone mines (31.2%), coal mines (13.7%), nonmetal mines (4.9%), and metal mines (1.9%).

Employees

There were 271,414 mine operator employees, [2] or 275,871 full-time equivalent (FTE) [3] workers. For mine operators, 18.9% of the employee hours were for underground work locations, while 81.1% of the employee hours were for surface work locations. [4]

Of the 106,709 independent contractor employees (or 60,892 FTE workers), 36.4% were coal contractor employees and 63.6% were noncoal contractor employees.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Data for the previous chart showing the number of employee hours (in millions) by commodity and year
Commodity and Type of Employer	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Coal Operator	185.4	170.3	157.3	168.4	163.8	157.1	166.5	181.3	189.0	186.5
Metal Operator	93.0	83.4	77.4	68.8	58.5	55.5	59.5	63.4	67.9	75.5
Nonmetal Operator	57.2	54.7	53.1	50.6	47.5	46.9	46.9	46.2	46.4	46.5
Stone Operator	164.8	167.8	168.5	166.1	161.7	160.0	163.5	168.6	170.8	166.5
Sand and Gravel Operator	75.0	78.9	78.1	77.0	75.3	74.8	76.6	78.4	79.6	76.7
Coal Contractor	36.4	35.4	36.2	40.3	36.5	35.0	38.5	43.0	46.2	45.5
Noncoal Contractor	43.3	47.8	54.2	49.8	39.2	39.9	46.8	54.1	62.6	76.3

Fatalities

In 2007, there were 67 occupational mining fatalities, compared to 73 in 2006. The overall fatality rate was 21.9 per 100,000 FTE workers.

The fatality rate for mine operator employees was 19.7 per 100,000 FTE workers (n=49; 73.1%), while the rate for contractor employees was 31.3 (n=18; 26.9%).
Noncoal contractors had the highest fatality rate (33.3), followed by coal operators (31.2), coal contractors (28.0), and metal operators (21.1) per 100,000 FTE workers.
The fatality rate at underground work locations was 47.2 per 100,000 FTE workers (n=27; 40.3%) compared to the lower rate at surface locations of 16.1 (n=40; 59.7%).

Click on the image to enlarge.

Data for the previous chart showing the number and rate of fatalities per 100,000 FTE employees by year
Fatalities	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Underground number	16	16	20	37	27
Surface number	40	39	37	36	40
Underground rate	35.7	33.2	37.7	66.0	47.2
Surface rate	18.9	17.5	15.7	14.6	16.1

Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries

There were 7,742 nonfatal lost-time injuries reported to MSHA in 2007 (2,645 at underground and 5,097 at surface work locations). These injuries occurred at an overall rate of 2.5 per 100 FTE workers and resulted in a total of 426,219 days lost from work. [5]

The underground nonfatal lost-time injury rate was greater than the surface injury rate (4.6 vs. 2.0 per 100 FTE workers).
The back continued to be the most frequently reported body part injured, accounting for 1,371 nonfatal lost-time injuries, 77,027 days lost from work, and 18.1 of all days lost.
Sprains and strains were the most frequently reported nature of injury (n=3,310; 42.8%).

Click on the image to enlarge.

Data for the previous chart showing the distribution of nonfatal lost-time injuries by accident class
Accident Class	Number	Percent
Handling materials	2,492	32.2
Slip or fall of person	1,847	23.9
Machinery	805	10.4
Powered haulage	796	10.3
Hand tools	661	8.5
Fall of ground	469	6.1
All other	672	8.7
Total	7,742	100.0

Mining operations, 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Underground Mining Operations [1]	Surface Mining Operations [1]	Total Mining Operations [1]
Coal Operator	631	1,399	2,030
Metal Operator	97	181	278
Nonmetal Operator	48	677	725
Stone Operator	113	4,526	4,639
Sand & Gravel Operator	Not applicable	7,199	7,199
Operator Total	889	13,982	14,871

Contracting companies, 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Number of Companies
Coal Contractor	2,999
Noncoal Contractor	5,400
Contractor Total	8,399

Employment characteristics, 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Underground Employees [2]	Surface Employees [2]	Total Employees [2]	Underground FTE Employees [3]	Surface FTE Employees [3]	Total FTE Employees [3]
Coal Operator	37,829	46,242	84,071	42,238	51,027	93,265
Metal Operator	5,333	30,667	36,000	5,437	32,309	37,746
Nonmetal Operator	2,411	20,453	22,864	2,478	20,788	23,265
Stone Operator	1,845	80,873	82,718	2,063	81,191	83,254
Sand & Gravel Operator	Not applicable	45,761	45,761	Not applicable	38,340	38,340
Operator Total	47,418	223,996	271,414	52,216	223,655	275,871
Coal Contractor	5,160	33,705	38,865	3,071	19,670	22,741
Noncoal Contractor	3,039	64,805	67,844	1,935	36,216	38,151
Contractor Total	8,199	98,510	106,709	5,006	55,886	60,892
Total	55,617	322,506	378,123	57,222	279,541	336,763

Mining Occupational Fatalities (per 100,000 FTE employees), 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Underground Fatalities	Underground Fatality Rate	Surface Fatalities	Surface Fatality Rate	Fatalities	Fatality Rate
Coal Operator	18	42.6	10	21.1	28	31.2
Metal Operator	3	55.2	4	14.4	7	21.1
Nonmetal Operator	1	40.4	0	0.0	1	5.0
Stone Operator	0	0.0	8	11.4	8	11.1
Sand & Gravel Operator	Not applicable	Not applicable	5	15.0	5	15.0
Operator Total	22	42.1	27	13.8	49	19.7
Coal Contractor	3	97.7	3	16.3	6	28.0
Noncoal Contractor	2	103.4	10	29.3	12	33.3
Contractor Total	5	99.9	13	24.8	18	31.3
Total	27	47.2	40	16.1	67	21.9

Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries (per 100 FTE employees), 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Underground Injuries	Underground Injury Rate	Surface Injuries	Surface Injury Rate	Injuries	Injury Rate
Coal Operator	2,120	5.0	822	1.7	2,942	3.3
Metal Operator	178	3.3	620	2.2	798	2.4
Nonmetal Operator	91	3.7	417	2.4	508	2.5
Stone Operator	36	1.7	1,844	2.6	1,880	2.6
Sand & Gravel Operator	Not applicable	Not applicable	657	2.0	657	2.0
Operator Total	2,425	4.6	4,360	2.2	6,785	2.7
Coal Contractor	177	5.8	283	1.5	460	2.1
Noncoal Contractor	43	2.2	454	1.3	497	1.4
Contractor Total	220	4.4	737	1.4	957	1.7
Total	2,645	4.6	5,097	2.0	7,742	2.5

Data source: Publicly released data files of employment and accident/injury/illness collected by MSHA under 30 CFR 50.

Notes: All analyses of accident data exclude office employees. Occupational fatalities exclude all cases under 17 years of age. Further statistical methodology is available on the NIOSH Internet. Data in the above tables may not add to totals shown because of independent rounding. Caution should be used when interpreting rates based on a small number of events.

Mines at which only independent contractors were working did not show any employment and were not counted.
Average number of employees working at individual mines during calendar quarters of active operations (includes office workers).
Full-time equivalent employees computed using reported employee hours (2,000 hours = 1 FTE).
Surface work locations include surface operations at underground mines, surface operations (strip or open pit), auger, culm banks, dredge, other surface operations, independent shops and yards, and mills or preparation plants.
Includes actual days away from work and/or days of restricted work activity. For permanently disabling injuries only, statutory days charged by MSHA were used if they exceeded the total lost workdays.

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