NONCOAL CONTRACTOR 

MINING FACTS – 2004 

The Mine Safety and Health Administration 

(MSHA) defines an independent contractor 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. 

In 2004, a total of 4,143 contracting companies 

reported employment at noncoal mines to MSHA, or 

61.9% of all independent contractor companies. 

A total of 42,511 employees,

1

 corresponding to 

22,198 full-time equivalent (FTE)2 employees, were 

reported by noncoal contractors to MSHA. 

•	 Within the mining sectors,3 noncoal contractor 

employees comprised 8.2% of all employee 

hours reported to MSHA. 

•	 Noncoal contractor employee hours were 

reported for both underground (4.0%) and surface (96.0%) work locations.4 

0 

50 

100 

150 

200 

250 

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Number of Employee Hours

(millions) 

Coal Operator 

Metal Operator 

Nonmetal Operator 

Stone Operator 

Sand & Gravel Operator 

Coal Contractor 

Noncoal Contractor 

Eight occupational fatalities occurred among 

noncoal contractor employees in 2004, accounting 

for 61.5% of all fatalities attributed to independent 

contractors. 

•	 The noncoal contractor fatality rate for all work 

locations was 36.0 fatalities per 100,000 FTE 

employees. 

0 

2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 

Number of Fatalities 

0 

20 

40 

60 

80 

100 

120 

140 

Fatality Rate

(per 100,000 Full-time Equivalent Employees) 

Underground 

Surface 

UG Rate 

Surf Rate 

There were 368 nonfatal lost-time injuries among 

noncoal contractor employees (25 at underground 

and 343 at surface work locations) occurring at a rate 

of 1.7 injuries per 100 FTE employees. These 

injuries resulted in 19,028 days lost5

 from work, 

comprising 4.1% of days lost across all mining 

sectors. 

•	 The underground nonfatal lost-time injury rate 

for noncoal contractor employees was 2.8 per 

100 FTE workers, while the surface rate was 1.6. 

•	 The most frequent classification of nonfatal losttime injuries reported for noncoal contractor 

employees involved handling materials (n=107; 

29.1%), followed by slip or fall of person (n=92; 

25.0%). 

•	 In 2004, the most frequently reported parts of the 

body injured were the back (n=56; 15.2%; 2,912 

days lost from work) and fingers (n=56; 15.2%; 

2,695 days lost from work). 

 

 

Distribution of Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries 

by Accident Class, 2000-2004 

33% 

10% 9% 8% 

25% 

15% 

Handling materials 

Slip or fall of person 

Machinery 

Hand tools 

Powered haulage 

All other 

Note: "Fall of ground" includes MSHA's Accident/Injury/Illness classification for fall of face, rib, 

pillar, side, or highwall (from in place); fall of roof, back, or brow (from in place); and underground 

machinery cases when the source of injury was caving rock, coal, ore, or waste. 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

September 2007 
In 2004, eight cases of occupational illnesses were 

reported to MSHA by noncoal contractors.6

 This 

compares to 12 cases in 2003. 

•

accounting for 37.5% of all noncoal contractor 

occupational illness. 

Three cases of systemic poisoning were reported, 

Mining Characteristics, 2004 

Commodity and 

Type of Employer 

Coal Operator 

No. of 

Mines 

2,011 

No. of 

Companies 

--

No. of 

Employees 

73,024 

No. of FTE 

Employees 

80,069 

Fatality 

Rate 

28.7 

Nonfatal 

Lost-time 

Injury Rate 

3.9 

Metal Operator 251 -- 25,205 26,091 7.7 2.1 

Nonmetal Operator 741 -- 19,432 20,183 5.0 2.7 

Stone Operator 4,401 -- 68,417 71,153 11.2 3.2 

Sand and Gravel Operator 7,074 -- 37,000 33,364 24.0 2.3 

Operator Total 14,478 -- 223,078 230,860 18.2 3.2 

Coal Contractor -- 2,550 30,228 17,964 27.8 2.6 

Noncoal Contractor -- 4,143 42,511 22,198 36.0 1.7 

Contractor Total -- 6,693 72,739 40,162 32.4 2.1 

TOTAL 295,817 271,022 20.3 3.0 

Data may not add to totals due to independent rounding. Number of employees was rounded at the subunit level of each mine to be consistent with 

MSHA reporting. Fatality rates were computed per 100,000 FTE employees. Nonfatal lost-time injury rates were computed per 100 FTE employees. 

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

Notes: All analyses exclude office employees. Further statistical methodology is available on the NIOSH Internet 

[http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/method.htm]. 1

Number of employees is the average number of persons working at individual establishments during calendar quarters of active 

operations. Employment numbers were rounded at the subunit level of each mine to be consistent with MSHA reporting. 2

Full-time equivalent employees were computed using reported employee hours (2,000 hours = 1 FTE). 3

Mining sectors: coal operators, metal operators, nonmetal operators, stone operators, sand and gravel operators, coal contractors, and

 noncoal contractors. 4

Surface work locations include surface operations at underground mines (surface shops and yards, tipple physically located at the mine 

site), surface operations (strip or open pit mines including associated shops and yards), dredge (mining operations conducted from a 

platform floating on water), other surface operations (brine pumping, etc.), independent shops and yards not associated with a specific 

mine, and mill or preparation plant. 5

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. 6

Because of the complexity of attributing disease causation to the workplace, occupational illnesses may be underreported. 

To receive NIOSH documents or for more information about 

occupational safety and health topics, contact NIOSH at 

1–800–CDC–INFO (1–800–232–4636) 

1–888–232–6348 (TTY) 

e-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov 

or visit the NIOSH Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh 

DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2007–173 

SAFER • HEALTHIER • PEOPLETM