Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461 – 470

www.elsevier.com/locate/jsr www.nsc.org

Analysis of fatalities and injuries involving mining equipment

W.A. Groves a,⁎, V.J. Kecojevic a , D. Komljenovic b
a
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, 110 Hosler Building, University Park, PA 16802-5000, USA
b
Nuclear Generating StationG2, Hydro-Quebec, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Quebec, Trois-Rivieres, Canada

Received 11 September 2006; received in revised form 11 January 2007; accepted 15 March 2007
Available online 23 July 2007

Abstract

Introduction: Despite significant reductions, the number of injuries and fatalities in mining remains high. A persistent area of concern
continues to be equipment-related incidents. Method: Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and Current Population Survey (CPS)
data were used to examine equipment-related injuries over the period 1995–2004. Incidents were reviewed to determine which types of
mining equipment were most often involved and to identify and characterize trends. Results: Non-powered hand tools was the equipment
category most often involved with non-fatal injuries while off-road ore haulage was the most common source of fatalities. Summary: Younger
employees had an elevated risk of injury while workers N 55 years had an elevated risk for fatality. A large majority of incidents involve
workers with b 5 years experience. Impact on Industry: Results should increase hazard awareness and enable mine management to select and
prioritize problem areas and safety system weaknesses in both underground and surface mining.
© 2007 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mining safety; Equipment-related injuries; Mining fatalities

1. Introduction Historically, mining has been one of the most hazardous

The mining industry is a vital economic sector for many
countries including the United States and comprises the
utilization of coal, metal, and non-metal minerals. The use of
minerals by nations worldwide is extensive and includes
electrical generation, production of cement, steel, agricul-
tural lime, commercial and residential building products,
asphalt, and medicines, as well as countless household,
electronic, and other manufactured products. According to
the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA, 2006),
there were 1,643 surface and underground coal mines, 199
metal mines, and 11,840 aggregate (stone, gravel, sand, etc.)
mines in the United States in 2005. Almost 345,000
employees are engaged in mining operations in the areas
of production, preparation, processing, development, main-
tenance, repair, and shop or yard work.
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wag10@psu.edu (W.A. Groves).
0022-4375/$ - see front matter © 2007 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2007.03.011
work environments in many countries around the world. In
addition, due to their severity and frequency, mining injuries,
illnesses, and fatalities are among the costliest, for example,
Leigh, Waehrer, Miller, and Keenan (2004) report that U.S.
lignite and bituminous coal mining rank second in the nation
for the average cost per worker for fatal and all nonfatal
injuries and illnesses. The data for coal mines indicate a total
of 311,965 injuries for the 28-year period from 1978 through
2005 (11,141 per year), and 183,940 injuries in the metal and
non-metal sector (6,569 per year). The total number of
fatalities for the same period was 1,835 in coal mining (65
per year) and 1,626 for metal and non-metal mining (58 per
year). The historical record of injuries continues to show a
significant decline and the number of fatalities has dropped
from 267 in 1979 to 55 in 2004, the lowest number of mining
fatalities ever recorded (MSHA, 2006).
Despite the record of progress that has been achieved in
reducing mining injuries and fatalities, both the number and
severity of mining accidents occurring are still unacceptable
(Kecojevic, Komljenovic, Groves, & Radomsky, in press).
462 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470
Three recent mining accidents, the 2002 mine inundation at
Quecreek, Pennsylvania, and the 2006 explosion at Sago
mine and fire at Alma Mine No. 1, both in West Virginia,
have captured national attention, and highlighted the impor-
tance and urgency to further improve mine safety using the
most effective approaches possible. Continued improvement
of miners' safety and health requires a two-pronged ap-
proach to accident prevention, one that is fundamental and
traditional (i.e., engineering, enforcement, and education)
and one that is more innovative and creative (e.g., applying
behavioral principles and technological advances to better
control and eliminate hazards). The two approaches are
synergistic – the efficacy coming when both are applied
simultaneously. Planning as well as program and policy im-
plementation must be followed by regular monitoring and
control activities. Future mine health and safety progress
requires the systematic planning of appropriate safety pro-
grams and measures. The safety management decisions that
must be made to select and prioritize problem areas and safety
system weaknesses must be based on the recognition of
hazards encountered in each activity of the mining process.
According to MSHA records, the highest number of mine
fatalities is attributed to the general category of equipment.
This study was undertaken in order to more thoroughly
characterize equipment-related mining injuries and to per-
form a descriptive analysis of those that occurred over the
last 10-year period. Injury statistics for surface and under-
ground mining were combined for these analyses — this
decision was based on the preliminary nature of the analysis
and on the desire to perform a more general program- or
policy-level evaluation process that would facilitate the
identification of priority areas for development of interven-
tions and control strategies. Subsequent implementation of
specific control strategies would then take into account the
type of mining operation and equipment that is unique to that
operation. An analysis of both the temporal characteristics of
the number of injuries for the period of 1995–2004, and
descriptive statistics related to accidents and injuries is pre-
sented. In addition, the relationship between number of fatal
accidents and the number of years of mining experience of
the workers involved is examined.
2. Methods
Mining accident, injury, and illness statistics were
obtained from data collected by the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) under Part 50 of the U.S. Code of
Federal Regulations via MSHA Form 7000. Electronic
versions of these data files are maintained by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
NIOSH has converted the electronic MSHA data files to
SPSS and dBase IV file formats and has added additional
computed fields. Documentation for the database is available
including the SPSS data dictionary, which describes all the
fields and codes used to enter information. There are 61
fields including variables such as the MSHA mine ID
assigned to an operation, the month, day, year, and time of an
incident, the mine machine involved, accident/injury/illness
classification, accident type, age of employee, experience,
injury type, total days lost, and job title.
Data files for 1995–2004 were downloaded from the
NIOSH site and combined into a master database in Microsoft
Access®. The resulting file consists of 190,940 records for the
10-year time period with each record representing an
accident, injury, or illness. All types of mining and both
mine operators and contractors were included. Database
filters were developed to determine, for example, how many
fatalities occurred each year, and with which mine machines
the incidents were associated. Results were further analyzed
using Minitab® 13. The age distribution for the mining
population was obtained from current population survey
(CPS) data. The CPS is a monthly survey of approximately
60,000 households conducted by the Bureau of Labor and
Statistics (BLS). The survey includes information on each
employed member of the household including age, sex, in-
dustry, and occupation. Age data for this study were extracted
from monthly CPS results.
Investigators often examine relationships between age,
experience, and injuries. However, it is difficult to separate
these effects since older workers typically have more
experience. In a previous study of coal mining injuries
(Butani, 1988), a detailed demographics survey was
conducted to collect information on characteristics such as
principal equipment operated, experience at present job, and
age for the general mining population. These results were
then used as denominator data to determine whether age and
experience, for example, were significant factors for injury.
Unfortunately, this type of demographic data are not
available for the time period examined in this study – the
CPS data provide only the age distribution and therefore
cannot be used to separate age and experience effects. Butani
(1988) described a relative risk or “injury index” to compare
and contrast various groups or subpopulations resulting from
stratification by age and experience. The index is simply the
ratio of percentage of injuries for the subpopulation to the
percentage of total workers accounted for by the subpopu-
lation. An injury index of 1.0 corresponds to an average risk
while a value greater than 1.0 indicates a higher risk for that
group.
In order to compare the relative cost or severity of injuries
associated with different types of mining equipment, the total
number of lost workdays (Hull, Leigh, Driscoll, & Mandryk,
1996) was tabulated for each mine machine for the 10-year
period. Lost work days is a field in the MSHA data files
(DAYSTOTL) and the MSHA Part 50 Diskette User's
Handbook provides detailed schedules of charges to be
applied to the different types of injury and impairment.
Under this system a fatality, any permanent total disability,
and loss of sight (both eyes) each lead to 6,000 days charged.
Charges for other injuries can range from 35 days for the loss
of the distal phalange of a toe, to 4,500 days for the loss of an
arm above the elbow. The total number of days charged to
 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470
each type of mine machine from 1995–2004 was calculated
by first filtering the database to include only those incidents
associated with a mine machine, and then including those
records for which the injury type was fatal (INJTYP = 1), or
non-fatal days lost (INJTYP = 2). This yielded a table
containing 56,450 records for INJTYP = 1 or 2 and 55,853
records for INJTYP = 2. The NFDL and total number of days
lost was then accumulated and plotted by mine machine
code.
3. Results and Discussion
A total of 190,940 accidents, injuries, and illnesses were
recorded from 1995–2004. Of these, 160,627 (84%) were
attributed to fatalities, non-fatal days lost injuries (NFDL), or
no days lost (NDL) injuries. The remaining 30,313 incidents
included events and illnesses such as roof falls (53%),
repeated trauma injuries (16%), hoisting accidents (7%), and
dust disease (6%). There were 775 fatalities reported, of
which 597 (77%) were associated with a piece of mining
equipment / machinery. NFDL and NDL injuries accounted
for 159,852 incidents with 86,398 (54%) of these associated
with mining machinery. When fatalities, NFDL, and NDL
injuries are combined, 54% of the 160,627 incidents were
associated with machinery. Finally, 93,207 (49%) of the
190,940 recorded incidents showed the involvement of
mining equipment.
A plot of annual injuries and fatalities shows a downward
trend over the 10 year period (Fig. 1). Fatalities decreased in
number from 97 in 1995 to 55 in 2004, while NFDL and
NDL injuries decreased from 13,852 and 6,869 in 1995, to
8,183 and 3,867 in 2004, respectively. These changes
represent decreases of 43%, 41%, and 44% for fatalities,
NFDL, and NDL injuries, respectively, from 1995–2004.
MSHA statistics show that during this same time frame, the
fatal injury rate decreased from 0.0303 to 0.0184, while the
injury rate decreased from 6.30 to 4.05. Coal production
during this period was relatively constant ranging from 1,030
to 1,128 million tons, while the number of small mines (all
types of mining, five or fewer employees) increased from
5,923 to 6,918. Although a continued decrease in the number
of fatalities is apparent, the rate of fatal injury per 100,000
workers in mining (16.7) was still more than four times
higher than the average rate for all industries (4.1) in 2004
(US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Current Population Survey, Census of Fatal Occupational
Injuries).
A histogram of accident, illness, and injury classifications
for the 190,940 incidents (Fig. 2a) shows a large portion
(54%) related to material handling, followed by slip or fall of
person (16%), machinery (12%), hand tools (11%), roof fall
(10%), and powered haulage (8%). Exposure to chemical
and physical agents accounts for approximately 4% of the
incidents collectively, including 4,805 disorders associated
with repeated trauma, and 1,731 involving dust diseases of
the lung. The large fraction of incidents related to material
463
handling, machinery, hand tools, and powered haulage is
consistent with previous surveillance reports and reflects the
general nature of mining operations (NIOSH, 2000). A
similar histogram prepared for fatalities (Fig. 2b) shows that
powered haulage (33%) and machinery (18%) classifications
account for 51% of the fatal incidents. This represents an
increase in the fraction of fatalities for these categories
compared to the 1986–1995 surveillance report (NIOSH,
2000) in which powered haulage and machinery were
associated with 44% of the fatalities, and suggests that
larger proportional reductions in fatalities may have been
achieved in other areas such as the electrical and ground fall
categories.
Fig. 3 shows the frequency of involvement of the different
types of mining machinery for fatalities only (INJTYP = 1),
and for NFDL and NDL injuries combined (INJTYP = 2 or 3).
The plot for fatalities shows that off highway and under-
ground ore haulage trucks (Code 44) account for the largest
portion of the fatalities (95, 16%) followed by front-end
loaders (54, 9%), continuous miners (12, 8%), conveyors (38,
6%), (non-ore haulage) trucks (38, 6%), and cranes/derricks
(32, 5%). The remaining types of equipment each accounted
for less than 5% of the fatalities. Referring to the NFDL and
NDL injuries plot, non-powered hand tools are involved in
20,435 incidents (24%), which is more than three times
greater than the next most frequently recorded machinery
category, rock or roof bolting machines (7,078, 8%). Off
highway ore haulage trucks (5,633, 6%), front end loaders
(5,376, 6%), and conveyors (4,280, 5%) are again among the
top five most frequently involved types of equipment.
A detailed study of the risks of hand tool injury in
underground coal and metal-nonmetal mining found that
most injuries are associated with scaling bars, jacks, and
pneumatic drills. The non-powered hand tools used in
mining are generally larger and heavier than household
versions of the same tools and are often used under difficult
conditions. The larger weight and size of the tools increases
Fig. 1. Non fatal days lost injuries (NFDL), no days lost (NDL) injuries, and
fatalities per year.
464 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470

Fig. 2. Frequency of accident / illness / injury classifications for a) all incidents (N = 190,940), and b) fatalities (N = 775).

the risk of injuries due to dropping, slipping, or overexertion
while using the tools. Further, conditions in mines often
require the use of tools in awkward positions, which
increases the risk of injury. The prevalence of recordable
injuries associated with non-powered hand-tool use indicates
that significant challenges still remain in controlling these
risks.
The estimated days lost for fatalities and NFDL injuries
combined (total days lost), and for NFDL injuries alone
(non-fatal days lost) are distributed by the mine machines
involved in Fig. 4. Incidents associated with off highway ore
haulage account for the largest quantity of total days lost
(766,874, 12%) followed by front end loaders (494,644,
8%), conveyors (440,300, 7%), non-powered hand tools
 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470 465

Fig. 3. Distribution of fatalities (INJTYP = 1), and NFDL (INJTYP = 2) and NDL (INJTYP = 3) injuries by mine machine involved (MINEMACH).

(428,515, 7%), and continuous miners (388,089, 6%).
However these results are largely influenced by the use of
a 6,000 day charge for fatalities, which complicates
interpretation. When NFDL injuries are considered alone
the five types of equipment with the largest number of days
charged were non-powered hand tools (326,515, 12%), rock
or roof bolting machines (229,117, 9%), conveyors
(212,300, 8%), off highway ore haulage (196,874, 8%),
and front end loaders (170,644, 6%). If the average number
of days lost per NFDL injury is used as a measure of severity,
results indicate that machine code 63 (slusher, scraper hoist,
scram, scram level) produced the most severe injuries with
an average of 155 days lost per incident (n = 11), while the
least severe injuries were observed for machine code 11
466 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470

Fig. 4. Estimated days lost by mine machine involved for a) total days lost (fatalities + NFDL) and b) non-fatal days lost only (NFDL).

(classifier, cyclones) with an average of 14 days charged per
injury (n = 12). Only machines having greater than 10
incidents over the 10 year period were included for this
comparison. If the analysis is restricted further to machines
involved in more than 100 NFDL injuries, the most severe
injuries were seen for surface mine-, ore-, or coal-cars
(code 42) with 113 days lost per incident (n = 336), while the
least severe injuries were recorded for welding machine
(code 70) injuries with an average of 24 days lost per inci-
dent (n = 1,636).
A non-parametric test (Kruskal-Wallis) was used to
determine whether there was a statistically significant
difference between the number of days lost per injury for
different mine machines. The resulting test statistic (H = 1,485)
had a p–value b 0.0005 indicating that at least one statistically
significant difference exists between the mine machine
 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470 467

Table 1 MSHA data and current population survey (CPS) age

Mining population by age category (1995–2004) demographics for the U.S. mining industry are presented in
Percentage by age category Table 1 for the years 1995–2004. Data show that the total
Year Total (in thousands) 16–24 yr 25–39 yr 40–54 yr N55 yr workforce decreased from approximately 362,000 to
1995 362 7.4 35.9 45.5 11.1 329,000 over this time period. The workforce is divided
1996 355 5.6 34.0 48.3 12.1 among four age categories (16–24 years, 25–39 years, 40–
1997 362 7.2 35.1 47.5 10.2 54 years, and ≥ 55 years) by percentage for each year.
1998 357 7.2 38.4 42.5 11.9 Results appear to show an increase in the percent of the
1999 353 8.4 31.5 46.4 13.7
workforce in the 40–54 and ≥ 55 year age categories and a
2000 348 7.7 26.2 51.1 15.1
2001 347 4.7 29.0 53.0 13.2 corresponding decreasing trend in the percentage of workers
2002 329 7.0 27.4 51.3 14.2 in the 16–24 years and 25–39 years categories. These results
2003 320 5.3 30.7 51.0 12.9 would be consistent with aging trends noted previously for
2004 329 5.3 33.0 47.3 14.5 the U.S. workforce in general (Kowalski-Trakofler, 2005),
and for the mining industry in particular (Fotta & Bockosh,
2000; Kowalski-Trakofler, Steiner, & Schwerha, 2005;
categories. A comparison of the sample medians for each Mallett & Schwerha, 2006; Schwerha & Mallet, 2005),
machine code and the resulting z-values showed that the lowest which have spurred the development of specialized
severity was seen for welding machines (median= 6 days, z = approaches to safety and health interventions and training
−20.4), powered hand tools (median= 7 days, z = −14.2), and (Kowalski-Trakofler et al., 2005, 2004).
non-powered hand tools (median = 11 days, z = −14.5). The CPS demographics were used with the MSHA database
highest severity was observed for injuries involving the to examine the distribution of fatalities and injuries by
continuous miner (median= 27 days, z = 11.2), shuttle car age category and to estimate the “Risk Index” for each.
(median = 26 days, z = 8.78), and the scoop tram category Results are presented in Table 2. The left side of the table
(code 33) (median = 23 days, z = 8.70). shows the percent of total injuries and fatalities accounted

Table 2
Distribution of fatalities and injuries by age categories and estimated Risk Index (1995–2004)
Fatalities and Percentage Risk Index
Injuries
Year Total 16–24 yr 25–39 yr 40–54 yr ≥55 yr 16–24 yr 25–39 yr 40–54 yr ≥55 yr
1995 20167 8.4 41.1 42.5 8.1 1.13 1.14 0.93 0.73
1996 18373 8.4 40.0 43.4 8.2 1.49 1.18 0.90 0.68
1997 17790 9.1 38.1 44.3 8.6 1.26 1.09 0.93 0.84
1998 17524 8.8 37.0 45.1 9.1 1.22 0.96 1.06 0.76
1999 15753 9.3 36.7 44.7 9.3 1.10 1.16 0.96 0.68
2000 15592 9.5 36.9 43.8 9.8 1.24 1.41 0.86 0.65
2001 14331 10.0 35.4 44.7 9.9 2.12 1.22 0.84 0.75
2002 13094 9.5 35.7 44.4 10.4 1.35 1.30 0.86 0.73
2003 12050 9.1 35.3 44.2 11.4 1.70 1.15 0.87 0.88
2004 11879 9.7 36.2 42.1 11.9 1.85 1.10 0.89 0.82
ave (sd)= 1.45 (0.34) 1.17 (0.12) 0.91 (0.06) 0.75 (0.08)
95% C.I.= ( 1.20, 1.69)⁎ ( 1.08, 1.26)⁎ (0.86, 0.96)⁎ ( 0.70, 0.80)⁎

Fatalities Percentage Risk Index

Year Total 16–24 yr 25–39 yr 40–54 yr ≥55 yr 16–24 yr 25–39 yr 40–54 yr ≥55 yr
1995 97 9.3 46.4 35.1 9.3 1.25 1.29 0.77 0.83
1996 85 8.2 37.6 42.4 11.8 1.46 1.11 0.88 0.97
1997 91 4.4 30.8 50.5 14.3 0.61 0.88 1.06 1.40
1998 78 6.4 32.1 38.5 23.1 0.89 0.83 0.91 1.94
1999 90 3.3 31.1 42.2 23.3 0.40 0.99 0.91 1.70
2000 85 3.5 31.8 44.7 20.0 0.46 1.21 0.88 1.32
2001 72 2.8 30.6 54.2 12.5 0.59 1.05 1.02 0.94
2002 66 10.6 27.3 45.5 16.7 1.51 1.00 0.89 1.17
2003 55 9.1 36.4 41.8 12.7 1.70 1.18 0.82 0.99
2004 55 5.5 29.1 40.0 25.5 1.04 0.88 0.85 1.75

ave (sd)= 0.99 (0.47) 1.04 (0.15) 0.90 (0.09) 1.30 (0.39)
95% C.I.= ( 0.65, 1.32) ( 0.93, 1.15) (0.84, 0.96)⁎ (1.02, 1.58)⁎
468 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470

for by each age category for each year. The number of
fatalities and injuries are combined in the top half of the
table, while fatalities are examined alone in the lower
portion. The risk index is calculated by dividing the per-
centage of injuries attributed to a given age category by
the percentage of the total workforce population repre-
sented by that category (Table 1). Employees age 16–
24 years accounted for 7.4% of the mining workforce in
1995 according to CPS data (Table 1) and 8.4% of the
recorded fatalities and injuries (Table 2). This corresponds
to an injury or risk index of 1.13 (8.4% / 7.4%), which
suggests a higher than average risk of injury for this
group. The risk index was calculated for the four age
categories (16–24 years, 25–39 years, 40–54 years, and
≥ 55 years ) for each of the 10 years examined. The mean
and standard deviation of the risk indices were then used
to estimate a 95% confidence interval thereby allowing the
identification of populations for which there was a
significant difference in risks (i.e., age groups for which
the risk was significantly greater than or less than average
[index = 1] over the 10 year period examined).
Results show that when fatalities and injuries are
combined, a significantly greater risk was seen for the 16–
24 years and 24–39 years categories, which had estimated
risk indices of 1.45 (1.20–1.69) and 1.17 (1.08–1.26),
respectively. At the same time, a significantly lower risk was
seen for both the 40–54 years and ≥ 55 years categories as
shown by indices of 0.91 (0.86–0.96) and 0.75 (0.70–0.80),
respectively. When fatalities were considered separately, a
statistically significant increased risk of 1.30 (1.02 – 1.58)
was seen for the ≥ 55 years category, while a reduced risk of
0.90 (0.84 – 0.96) was observed for the 40–54 years group.
The 16–24 years and 25–39 years risk indices for fatalities
were not significantly different from 1.0. Overall, these
results suggest that younger workers are at a higher risk for
non-fatal injuries, which may be due to a lack of experience.
Older workers, who are likely to be more experienced, show
a significantly lower risk of injury. It should be noted,
however, that this analysis could not separate the effects of
age and experience, or other factors such as job title, which
can also play a role in the risk experienced by different
groups of workers.
An interesting contrast is seen when the risk index
estimates for fatalities alone are examined – the 40–54 years
group has significantly lower risk while the ≥ 55 years
workers are at a significantly increased risk. Both these
groups would generally be expected to have more experi-
ence, which could explain the reduced risk for the 40–
54 years workers. Without detailed demographics for the
mining workforce, a definitive reason for the increased risk
of the oldest group of workers cannot be determined. It may
be that the most experienced workers are more likely to be
placed in jobs with greater risks of fatal injury. Butani (1988)
previously found that when age and experience were
examined separately, there was no age effect on the risk
index; however, there was a significant experience effect
with the highest increase in risk occurring for workers over
the age of 50 years with ≤ 1 year experience (risk
index = 3.17). Hunting and Weeks (1993) also reported an
increased risk of injury with less experience but no age effect
in a study of transport injuries in small coal mines. It should
be noted that injuries, illness, and fatalities were combined in
the Butani study, so a separate examination of a fatal risk
index was not presented.
The relative frequency of equipment related fatalities and
injuries as a function of experience in current job is
presented in Table 3. Results are shown separately for the
five most frequently involved types of equipment for
injuries and fatalities. This yields a total of seven different
machine types since three (off highway haulage, front end

Table 3
Relative frequency of equipment-related fatalities and injuries as a function of mining experience (1995–2004)
Experience Non-Powered Rock/Roof Bolting Off Highway Ore Front-End Conveyor Continuous Trucks (67) All Equipment
in job Hand tools (28) Machine (54) Haulage (44) Loader (24) (13) Miner (12)
Injuries 20435 (24%) 7078 (8%) 5633 (6%) 5376 (6%) 4280 (5%) 2384 (3%) 2841 (3%) 86398 (100%)
≤1 yr 6724 (33%) 2123 (30%) 2053 (36%) 1562 (29%) 1551 (36%) 549 (23%) 915 (32%) 24476 (28%)
1–5 yr 6150 (30%) 2260 (32%) 1608 (28%) 1580 (29%) 1282 (30%) 675 (28%) 842 (30%) 28804 (33%)
5 – 10 yr 3152 (15%) 1315 (19%) 804 (14%) 887 (16%) 637 (15%) 460 (19%) 424 (15%) 13552 (16%)
10 – 15 yr 1665 (8%) 659 (9%) 448 (8%) 480 (9%) 340 (8%) 305 (13%) 222 (8%) 7444 (9%)
15 – 20 yr 1321 (6%) 457 (6%) 317 (6%) 380 (7%) 246 (6%) 243 (10%) 195 (7%) 5924 (7%)
20 – 25 yr 822 (4%) 188 (3%) 222 (4%) 263 (5%) 138 (3%) 102 (4%) 124 (4%) 3553 (4%)
25 – 30 yr 417 (2%) 62 (1%) 118 (2%) 144 (3%) 63 (2%) 41 (2%) 79 (3%) 1807 (2%)
N30 yr 184 (1%) 14 (0.2%) 63 (1%) 80 (2%) 23 (0.5%) 9 (0.4%) 40 (1%) 838 (1%)
Fatalities 17 (3%) 18 (3%) 95 (16%) 54 (9%) 38 (6%) 47 (8%) 38 (6%) 597 (100%)
≤1 yr 7 (41%) 2 (11%) 37 (39%) 21 (39%) 14 (37%) 13 (28%) 19 (50%) 183 (31%)
1–5 yr 5 (29%) 4 (22%) 20 (21%) 11 (20%) 14 (37%) 11 (23%) 5 (13%) 147 (25%)
5 – 10 yr 4 (24%) 3 (17%) 12 (13%) 2 (4%) 4 (10%) 9 (19%) 5 (13%) 94 (16%)
10 – 15 yr – 3 (17%) 9 (10%) 4 (7%) 3 (8%) 4 (8%) 1 (3%) 60 (10%)
15 – 20 yr – 4 (22%) 5 (5%) 6 (11%) 1 (3%) 7 (15%) 5 (13%) 49 (8%)
20 – 25 yr – 2 (11%) 6 (6%) 5 (9%) 1 (3%) 1 (2%) 2 (5%) 31 (5%)
25 – 30 yr 1 (6%) – 5 (5%) 3 (6%) 1 (3%) 2 (4%) 1 (3%) 18 (3%)
N30 yr – – 1 (1%) 2 (4%) – – – 15 (2%)
 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470
loaders, and conveyors) are common to both injuries and
fatalities. In all cases, more than 50% of the employees
injured had ≤ 5 years of experience in their current job. This
percentage ranged from a high of 74% for fatalities
involving conveyors to a low of 51% for fatalities with
continuous miners. Conveyors had the highest percentage of
employees with ≤ 5 years experience for both injuries (66%)
and fatalities (74%). The equipment types having the
highest percentage of injured employees with ≤ 1 year
experience were trucks (50%) and non-powered hand tools
for fatalities, and off highway ore haulage (36%) and
conveyors (36%) for injuries. When all types of equipment
were considered, the overall percentage of workers with
≤ 5 years experience was 61% for injuries and 56% for
fatalities. It should be noted that the experience distribution
for all employees using a given piece of equipment is not
known, therefore, it cannot be determined whether the
number of injuries or fatalities for a given experience
category is different than what would be expected for that
group based on the makeup of the workforce.
This analysis demonstrates the need for development
of new interventions and control strategies for the risks
associated with mining equipment. A number of promising
new approaches have been described in recent years, including
collision prevention for vehicles using GPS-and radar-based
warning systems (Ruff, 2006; Ruff & Holden, 2003), and
the use of degraded images in hazard recognition training for
the reduction of lost time injuries (Kowalski-Trakofler &
Barrett, 2003). Ongoing development of these and other new
strategies will be required to achieve continued decreases
in injury and illness rates for the mining industry.
4. Summary
A review of equipment related injuries for the period
1995–2004 identified mine machines most often involved
with injuries and fatalities. The most frequently cited
category for nonfatal injuries was non powered hand tools
(code 28), which also accounted for the largest number of
lost days, despite having relatively low severity per incident
as measured by the median number of lost days. Off road and
underground ore haulage (code 44) was the category most
often involved in fatal injury. Estimated risk indices show an
increased risk of non-fatal injury for younger employees, and
a large majority of recorded incidents involved workers with
≤ 5 years experience in current job. The risk index for fa-
talities suggests an elevated risk for workers ≥ 55 years;
however, the role of potential factors such as experience and
job title could not be examined separately.
These analyses also show that the types of activities most
often associated with injury in mining have not changed
much over the years. Continued reductions in accidents and
injuries will require additional efforts to develop new and
creative approaches to training miners, and to identify and
implement interventions that address the remaining sources
of risk. Results also emphasize the need for more detailed
469
demographics data for the mining workforce as a whole, and
additional research on the characteristics of the operators of
the different types of equipment in order for a complete
analysis of accidents and injuries to be performed.
References
Butani, S. J. (1988). Relative risk analysis of injuries in coal mining by age
and experience at present company. Journal of Occupational Accidents,
10, 209−216.
Fotta, B., & Bockosh, G. (2000). The aging workforce: an emerging issue in
the mining industry. Proceedings of the 31st annual institute on mining
health, safety, and research. (pp. 33−45) NIOSHTIC-2 No. 20022037.
Hull, B. P., Leigh, J., Driscoll, T. R., & Mandryk, J. (1996). Factors
associated with occupational injury severity in the New South Wales
underground coal mining industry. Safety Science, 21, 191−204.
Hunting, K. L., & Weeks, J. L. (1993). Transport injuries in small coal mines: an
exploratory analysis. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 23, 391−406.
Kecojevic, V., Komljenovic, D., Groves, W., & Radomsky, M. (in press). An
analysis of equipment-related fatal accidents in U.S. mining operations:
1995–2005. Safety Science. doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2006.08.024
Kowalski-Trakofler, K. M., & Barrett, E. A. (2003). The concept of
degraded images applied to hazard recognition training in mining for
reduction of lost-time injuries. Journal of Safety Research, 34, 515−525.
Kowalski-Trakofler, K. M., Steiner, L. J., & Schwerha, D. J. (2005). Safety
considerations for the aging workforce. Safety Science, 43, 779−793.
Kowalski-Trakofler, K. M., Vaught, C., Mallet, L. G., Brnich, M. J., Reinke,
D. C., Steiner, L. J., et al. (2004). Safety and health training for an
evolving workforce: an overview from the mining industry (DHHS
(NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-155. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
Leigh, J., Waehrer, G., Miller, T., & Keenan, C. (2004). Cost of occupational
injury and illness across industries. Scandinavian Journal of Work,
Environment & Health, 30(3), 199−205.
Mallett, L., & Schwerha, D. J. (2006). What diffderence does age make- Part
2: coal mining injuries. Joseph A. Holmes safety association bulletin
(pp. 10−18).
Mine Safety and Health Administration [MSHA]. (2006). Equipment safety
and health information. available from:bwww.msha.govN
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]. (2000). In-
juries, illnesses, and hazardous exposures in the mining industry, 1986–
1995: a surveillance report (DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-117).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Ruff, T. (2006). Evaluation of a radar-based proximity warning system for
off-highway dump trucks. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 38,
92−98.
Ruff, T. M., & Holden, T. P. (2003). Preventing collisions involving surface
mining equipment: a GPS-based approach. Journal of Safety Research,
34, 175−181.
Schwerha, D. J., & Mallet, L. (2005). What difference does age make- Part
1: Mining in all commodities. Joseph A. Holmes safety association
bulletin (pp. 9−16).
Dr. William Groves is an Associate Professor of Industrial Health and
Safety at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), USA. He holds a B.S. in
Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University (1985), and
M.P.H. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Health from the University of
Michigan (1993, 1997). Dr. Groves has 20 years of experience in Health
and Safety including professional practice as a Loss Control Engineer
(Aetna Life and Casualty) and Industrial Hygienist (Aetna Life and
Casualty, Dow Chemical, Newport News Shipbuilding). He holds
certifications in industrial hygiene (CIH) and safety (CSP). Dr. Groves'
research interests include exposure assessment, instrumentation for
measuring gas and vapors, and personal protective equipment.
470 W.A. Groves et al. / Journal of Safety Research 38 (2007) 461–470
Dr. Vladislav Kecojevic is an Associate Professor of Mining Engineering
and a holder of Centennial Career Development Professorship in Mining
Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU), USA. He received
BSc, MSc and PhD in 1991, 1996, 2000, respectively, in Mining
Engineering, all from University of Belgrade. He has 15 years of experi-
ence in research and mining industry. Before joining PSU he was employed
at the R&D Department of Krupp Canada, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp
Fördertechnik GmbH. His areas of expertise include mine materials
handling systems, mine safety, mathematical modeling of mining opera-
tions, and software development.
Dr. Dragan Komljenovic received his BSc at the University of Tuzla, MSc
at the University of Belgrade, and PhD at the Laval University, all in
Mining Engineering. He works as Reliability Engineer at the Hydro-
Quebec, Canada. He is also appointed as Adjunct Professor at University of
Quebec in Trois-Rivières (reliability engineering, and safety analysis),
Laval University in Quebec City (mining engineering), and University of
Waterloo (risk analysis in nuclear industry). Prior to joining Hydro-Québec,
he worked in mining industry as well as researcher and university-teacher at
the University of Tuzla and at the Laval University. He is registered
professional engineer in Quebec, Canada.