DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 

September 2008

COAL OPERATOR 

MINING FACTS – 2005

Mining Operations 

In 2005, a total of 2,063 coal mining operations 

reported employment to the Mine S afety and Health 

Administration (MSHA). Coal m ines com prised 

14.1% of all mining operations. 

• Bituminous m ines comprised 92.6% (n=1,911) 

and anthracite m ines 7.4% (n=152) of coa l 

mining operations. 

• Approximately 70% of all coal mines were located 

in three states: Ken tucky (28.0%), W est Virginia 

(21.8%), and Pennsylvania (20.6%). 

Employees 

A total of 78,281 employees, 1

 corresponding to 

87,184 full-time equivalent (FTE) 2 employees, were 

reported by coal mine operators to MSHA.

• Within the m ining sectors, 3 coal operators 

comprised 30.2% of all employee hours reported. 

• Underground work locations accounted for 

46.4% of c oal em ployee hours, while surface 

work locations accounted for 53.6%.4

0

50

100

150

200

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Number of Employee Hours

(millions)

Coal Operator Metal Operator Nonmetal Operator

Stone Operator Sand & Gravel Oper Coal Contractor

Noncoal Contractor

Fatalities 

Seventeen (17) occupati onal f atalities o ccurred 

among coal operator employees in 2005, compared 

to 23 in 2004. 

• Fatalities am ong coal operator em ployees 

accounted for 29.8% of all mining fatalities. 

• The coal operator fatality rate was 19.5 fatalities 

per 100,000 FTE e mployees. The underground 

fatality rate was 34.6 (n=14) com pared to a rate 

of 6.4 (n=3) for surface work locations. 

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Number of Fatalities

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Fatality Rate

(per 100,000 Full-time Equivalent Employees)

Underground Surface

UG Rate Surf Rate

Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries 

There were 3,062 nonfatal lost-tim e injuries (2,234 

at underground and 828 at surface work locations) 

among coal operator employees occurring at a rate 

of 3.5 injuries per 100 FTE employees. These 

injuries resulted in 197,867 days lost 5 from work, 

comprising nearly 43.0% of days lost across all 

mining sectors.

• The underground nonfatal lo st-time injury rate 

was greater than th e surf ace injury rate (5.5 vs. 

1.8 per 100 FTE workers). 

• The most frequent classification of nonfatal losttime injuries f or coal opera tor em ployees 

involved handling materials (n=886; 28.9%). 

• Sprains and str ains we re the m ost f requently 

reported nature of injury (n=1,323; 43.2%). 

• The back was the m ost frequently reported part 

of the body injured (n=602; 19.7%) and 

accounted for 39,918 days lost from work. 

Distribution of Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries

by Accident Class, 2001-2005

32%

12% 11% 6% 6%

21%

12%

Handling materials

Slip or fall of person

Fall of ground

Powered haulage

Machinery

Hand tools

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.
Mining Characteristics, 2005 

Commodity and 

Type of Employer 

No. of 

Mines 

No. of 

Companies 

No. of 

Employees1

No. of FTE

Employees2

Fatality 

Rate 

Nonfatal 

Lost-time 

Injury Rate 

Coal Operator 2,063 -- 78,281 87,184 19.5 3.5 

Metal Operator 263 -- 26,442 27,773 18.0 2.4 

Nonmetal Operator 739 -- 19,678 20,014 20.0 2.5 

Stone Operator 4,490 -- 69,759 73,650 20.4 3.1 

Sand and Gravel Operator 7,111 -- 37,705 34,258 26.3 2.5 

Operator Total 14,666 -- 231,865 242,879 20.6 3.0 

Coal Contractor -- 2,503 32,639 20,136 24.8 2.7 

Noncoal Contractor -- 4,297 46,623 25,590 7.8 1.6 

Contractor Total -- 6,800 79,262 45,726 15.3 2.1 

TOTAL 311,127 288,605 19.8 2.9 

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, except for the total number of mining operations. Analyses of fatalities exclude all 

individuals under 17 years of age and all individuals who were not classified as employees of a mining operator or mining contractor. 

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. 

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 

 no ncoal 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), auger mining operations, culm banks 

 (reworking of mine dumps or refuse pile), dredge (mining operations conducted from a platform floating on water), 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. 

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. 2008-150 

SAFER • HEALTHIER • PEOPLETM