Noncoal Contractor Mining Facts - 2007 (HTML)

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Mining Operations
Companies
Employees
Fatalities
Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries
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. 2009–165

Mining Operations

An independent contractor is defined by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as "any person, partnership, corporation, subsidiary of a corporation, firm, association or other organization that contracts to perform services or construction at a mine." Contractors that perform specific types of work are required to report the number of employees who work at coal mines and noncoal mines.

Companies

In 2007, a total of 5,400 contracting companies reported employment at noncoal mines to MSHA, or 64.3% of all independent contracting companies.

Employees

A total of 67,844 employees, [1] corresponding to 38,151 full-time equivalent (FTE) [2] employees, were reported by noncoal contractors to MSHA.

Within the mining sectors, [3] noncoal contractor employees comprised 11.3% of all employee hours reported to MSHA.
Noncoal contractor employee hours were reported for both underground (5.1%) and surface (94.9%) work locations. [4]

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

Twelve occupational fatalities occurred among noncoal contractor employees in 2007, accounting for 66.7% of all fatalities attributed to independent contractors.

The noncoal contractor fatality rate for all work locations was 33.3 fatalities per 100,000 FTE employees.

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	0	0	0	0	2
Surface number	4	8	2	7	10
Underground rate	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	103.4
Surface rate	22.1	37.5	8.2	24.8	29.3

Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries

There were 497 nonfatal lost-time injuries among noncoal contractor employees (43 at underground and 454 at surface work locations) with an overall rate of 1.4 injuries per 100 FTE employees. These injuries resulted in 22,290 days lost from work. [5]

The underground nonfatal lost-time injury rate for noncoal contractor employees was 2.2 per 100 FTE workers, while the surface rate was 1.3.
The most frequent classification of nonfatal lost-time injuries reported for noncoal contractor employees involved handling materials (n=190; 38.2%), followed by slips or falls (n=97; 19.5%).
Sprains and strains were the most frequently reported nature of injury (n=179; 36.0%).
In 2007, the most frequently reported body parts injured were the fingers (n=85; 17.1%; 5,462 days lost from work) and the back (n=75; 15.1%; 2,255 days lost from work).

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	190	38.2
Slip or fall of person	97	19.5
Machinery	71	14.3
Hand tools	38	7.6
Powered haulage	36	7.2
All other	65	13.1
Total	497	100.0

Mining operations, 2007

Commodity and Type of Employer	Underground Mining Operations	Surface Mining Operations	Total Mining Operations
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 [1]	Surface Employees [1]	Total Employees [1]	Underground FTE Employees [2]	Surface FTE Employees [2]	Total FTE Employees [2]
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.

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).
Mining sectors include coal operators, metal operators, nonmetal operators, stone operators, sand and gravel operators, coal contractors, and noncoal contractors.
Surface work locations include surface operations at underground mines, surface operations (strip or open pit), 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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