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RENEWED INTEREST IN COAL MININGSPURS HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS
As the energy crunch renews interest in coal as the nation's primary source of electricity, it also is renewing concerns about the health and safety of coal miners, says Dr. Larry Grayson, professor and chair of mining engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla.
Grayson, an expert in mine health and safety, says the coal industry must work to ensure its improved safety record continues during a time of expansion in the mining business. Soon, many of the nation's 102,000 coal miners will be retiring, and that loss of experience, coupled with increased demand for coal, could lead to an increase in mining-related injuries, he says.
"We've got an experienced work force, large numbers of whom will be retiring in the coming years," says Grayson, who formerly served as associate director of mining at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Washington, D.C. "We've got to replace those workers while we avoid undoing a very good record in mine health and safety."
Coal production in the United States amounted to nearly 1.08 billion tons in 2000, making the United States the world's largest producer, Grayson says. Coal accounts for roughly 55 percent of the nation's base load electrical generating capacity -- more than any other electrical source, Grayson adds.
While employment in the U.S. coal industry has dropped from more than 730,000 workers in the early 20th century to just 102,000 today, productivity has improved dramatically, as has the industry's safety record, Grayson says.
Since World War II, the fatality rate in the coal industry has been reduced by at least 10 percent per each five-year period, Grayson says. "This tremendous achievement was accomplished by mine operators, miners, and government, whose combined efforts were woven together by the mine health and safety acts o 1969 and 1977," he says.
New technology, including automation and remote controls, and other advances, such as canopies to protect miners, have improved both productivity and health and safety conditions for miners, often physically removing workers from many potentially hazardous situations, Grayson notes. Improvements in monitoring devices, ventilation and ground control systems, and other safety technology have also reduced injury and fatality rates to their lowest levels in history. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, there were 38 accidental coal mining deaths in the United States in 2000. Eighteen of those deaths occurred in underground coal mines. The leading causes of coal mining fatalities were powered haulage and machinery, each accounting for 10 deaths, followed by four fatal accidents caused by slips and falls.
"Miners are some of the nation's most dedicated workers in one of the country's most important and most hazardous industries, and today's coal mines are much safer than mines of the past," Grayson says. "As the industry prepares for the massive retirements of experienced miners, however, we must continue to be vigilant in our training of new miners, and safety concerns must be paramount. The industry widely acknowledges that its challenges from physical conditions will be even more formidable in the future"
Regulatory agencies in the United States help to ensure mine safety, Grayson says. The world's second-largest coal producer, China, had approximately 10,000 coal mining fatalities a year a few years ago, most of them occurring in unregulated "private" mines, Grayson notes. Seventy percent of those fatalities occurred in unregulated, non-centrally controlled mines, Grayson says.
Before joining UMR as chair in 2000, Grayson managed the merger of the former U.S. Bureau of Mines health and safety research functions into NIOSH. Previously, he was co-founder of the West Virginia Small Mines Assistance Center, which provided training and other safety interventions to prevent injuries in mines with fewer than 20 employees. Small mines often have fatality rates three to five times higher than larger mines. He has also collaboratively developed new methodologies for identifying miners at high risk of injury, and analyzing respirable dust particles in mines.
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