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Underground and Surface Mining Facts - 2007 (HTML)
Keywords: Fatality rates Injury rates Non-fatal days lost rates
This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
On This Page
Mining Operations
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. 2009–158

Mining Operations
Data obtained from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) indicated a total of 889 underground (6.0%) and 13,982 surface (94.0%) mining operations. [1]

Employees
A total of 55,617 employees, [2] or 57,222 full-time equivalent (FTE) [3] employees, were reported to MSHA as working at underground mining locations in 2007. This is in contrast to 322,506 employees (or 279,541 FTE employees) that were reported as working at surface locations. [4]
Surface work location employee hours accounted for 83.0% of all hours reported to MSHA, while 17.0% of employee hours were reported for underground work locations.
The majority of surface employee hours were for mine operator employees (80.0%) as opposed to independent contractor employees (20.0%).
Coal operators were the mining sector [5] reporting the most underground worker employee hours to MSHA (n=84,475,287; 73.8%).
Click on the image to enlarge.
Data for the previous chart showing the number of employee hours (in millions) by worker location and year
Work Location
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007All
655.0
638.1
624.9
621.0
582.7
569.2
598.2
635.1
662.5
673.5Surface
543.3
535.8
529.8
520.7
490.6
479.7
501.8
529.0
550.4
559.1Underground
111.8
102.4
95.1
100.3
92.1
89.6
96.4
106.1
112.1
114.1

Fatalities
Of the 67 occupational mining fatalities reported to MSHA in 2007, 27 occurred at underground work locations, while 40 occurred at surface locations.
The fatality rate of 47.2 per 100,000 FTE employees was higher at underground work locations, compared to the rate of 16.1 for surface work locations.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Data for the previous pie chart showing the number and percent of fatalities by worker location
Fatalities
Number
PercentUnderground
27
40.3Surface
40
59.7
Data for the previous underground worker location pie chart showing the number and percent of fatalities by commodity
Fatalities
Number
PercentCoal operator
18
66.7Metal operator
3
11.1Nonmetal operator
1
3.7Stone operator
0
0.0Sand & gravel operator
0
0.0Coal contractor
3
11.1Noncoal contractor
2
7.4
Data for the previous surface worker location pie chart showing the number and percent of fatalities by commodity
Fatalities
Number
PercentCoal operator
10
25.0Metal operator
4
10.0Nonmetal operator
0
0.0Stone operator
8
20.0Sand & gravel operator
5
12.5Coal contractor
3
7.5Noncoal contractor
10
25.0

Nonfatal Lost-time Injuries
Within underground work locations, 2,645 nonfatal lost-time injuries were reported, resulting in 170,584 lost workdays. [6] This compares to 5,097 nonfatal lost-time injuries attributed to surface workers (total days lost = 255,635).
The overall underground nonfatal lost-time injury rate was greater than the surface injury rate (4.6 vs. 2.0 per 100 FTE workers).
The most frequent classification of nonfatal lost-time injuries involved handling materials for both underground (n=719; 27.2%) and surface (n=1,773; 34.8%) work locations.
The back was the most frequently reported body part injured at both underground (n=414; 15.7%) and surface (n=957; 18.8%) work locations.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Data for the previous chart showing the number of nonfatal lost-time injuries and rate (per 100 FTE employees) by worker location and year
Injuries
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007Underground number
4,810
4,103
3,854
3,570
3,306
2,818
2,753
2,772
2,739
2,645Surface number
7,322
6,881
6,985
6,379
6,052
5,504
5,386
5,538
5,249
5,097Underground rate
8.6
8.0
8.1
7.1
7.2
6.3
5.7
5.2
4.9
4.6Surface rate
3.1
2.9
3.0
2.8
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.4
2.1
2.0

Mining operations, 2007
Commodity and Type of Employer
Underground Mining Operations [1]
Surface Mining Operations [1]
Total Mining Operations [1]Coal Operator
631
1,399
2,030Metal Operator
97
181
278Nonmetal Operator
48
677
725Stone Operator
113
4,526
4,639Sand & Gravel Operator
Not applicable
7,199
7,199Operator Total
889
13,982
14,871



Contracting companies, 2007
Commodity and Type of Employer
Number of CompaniesCoal Contractor
2,999Noncoal Contractor
5,400Contractor Total
8,399

Employment characteristics, 2007
Commodity and Type of Employer
Underground Employees [2]
Surface Employees [2]
Total Employees [2]
Underground FTE Employees [3]
Surface FTE Employees [3]
Total FTE Employees [3]Coal Operator
37,829
46,242
84,071
42,238
51,027
93,265Metal Operator
5,333
30,667
36,000
5,437
32,309
37,746Nonmetal Operator
2,411
20,453
22,864
2,478
20,788
23,265Stone Operator
1,845
80,873
82,718
2,063
81,191
83,254Sand & Gravel Operator
Not applicable
45,761
45,761
Not applicable
38,340
38,340Operator Total
47,418
223,996
271,414
52,216
223,655
275,871Coal Contractor
5,160
33,705
38,865
3,071
19,670
22,741Noncoal Contractor
3,039
64,805
67,844
1,935
36,216
38,151Contractor Total
8,199
98,510
106,709
5,006
55,886
60,892Total
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 RateCoal Operator
18
42.6
10
21.1
28
31.2Metal Operator
3
55.2
4
14.4
7
21.1Nonmetal Operator
1
40.4
0
0.0
1
5.0Stone Operator
0
0.0
8
11.4
8
11.1Sand & Gravel Operator
Not applicable
Not applicable
5
15.0
5
15.0Operator Total
22
42.1
27
13.8
49
19.7Coal Contractor
3
97.7
3
16.3
6
28.0Noncoal Contractor
2
103.4
10
29.3
12
33.3Contractor Total
5
99.9
13
24.8
18
31.3Total
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 RateCoal Operator
2,120
5.0
822
1.7
2,942
3.3Metal Operator
178
3.3
620
2.2
798
2.4Nonmetal Operator
91
3.7
417
2.4
508
2.5Stone Operator
36
1.7
1,844
2.6
1,880
2.6Sand & Gravel Operator
Not applicable
Not applicable
657
2.0
657
2.0Operator Total
2,425
4.6
4,360
2.2
6,785
2.7Coal Contractor
177
5.8
283
1.5
460
2.1Noncoal Contractor
43
2.2
454
1.3
497
1.4Contractor Total
220
4.4
737
1.4
957
1.7Total
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.
Mines at which only independent contractors were working did not show any employment and were not counted.
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).
Surface work locations include surface operations at underground mines, surface operations (strip or open pit), auger, culm banks, dredge, other surface operations, independent shops and yards, and mills or preparation plants.
Mining sectors include coal operators, metal operators, nonmetal operators, stone operators, sand and gravel operators, coal contractors, and noncoal contractors.
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 more information about occupational safety and health topics, contact NIOSH at **1-800-CDC-INFO** (1-800-232-4636), TTY: 1-888-232-6348, or visit NIOSH's Ask an Occupational Safety and Health Question page.


See Also
Coal and metal/nonmetal mining facts - 2008
Coal and Metal/Nonmetal Mining Facts - 2008 (HTML)
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2001
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2002
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2003
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2004
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2005
Coal Contractor Mining Facts - 2006
Mining Fact Sheets
Rib Falls: A Major Ground Control Issue
Page last reviewed: April 7, 2022
Page last updated: April 7, 2022
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program
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