Through the first four months of the year, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) reports that there have been 17 miner fatalities.
That number is up from the 12 fatalities seen from January through April last year and the 10 fatalities in the same time in 2021. At this rate, fatalities are trending to be higher than the yearlong totals from last year (29), 2021 (37), 2020 (29) and 2019 (27).
Of the 17 fatalities this year, 13 happened in surface mines with four occurring in underground mines, according to MSHA. The leading cause of death among miners so far this year is machinery, accounting for six deaths. Powered haulage and electrical incidents have each accounted for three fatalities. Other causes include fall of face/rib/highwall, fall of roof or back, hand tools, slip/fall of person and other.
April saw three miner fatalities following five in March. February also had three fatalities, according to the administration, with January having six.
MSHA’s response
Chris Williamson, assistant secretary of MSHA, recently put out an open letter to the mining community, calling on members to focus on identifying and eliminating safety and health hazards.
“The mining industry has not had the start to the year that we had all hoped, with [17] miners having already lost their lives in accidents,” Williamson writes. “These accidents have involved vehicle collisions, electrocutions, falls from elevated surfaces, equipment rollovers and drowning. The metal and nonmetal industry has experienced 13 fatalities to date, an alarming trend that we must reverse.”
He also calls on the entire mining community – including MSHA, miners, operators and labor unions – to work together to reverse these trends.
“Fatalities can be prevented by implementing effective safety and health programs,” Williams says. “Important elements in any safety and health program include workplace examinations and training. Both inform miners about workplace hazards and controls; help miners internalize the importance of safety and health practices; and contribute to a positive safety and health culture at the mine.”
Williamson adds that miners must play an active role in safety and health and should exercise their rights to be full participants in maintaining a safe and healthy workplace.
“To prevent serious and fatal accidents, everyone in the mining industry needs to be on the alert for hazardous conditions,” he says.
In the letter, Williamson also writes about MSHA’s latest outreach initiative to reduce fatalities, serious injuries and illnesses.
“We are announcing an annual ‘Stand Down to Save Lives’ day on May 17,” he says. “We encourage everyone in the mining community to join us in setting aside a time during this week to give additional focus to the safety and health of our nation’s miners.”
After seeing a decrease in fatalities from 2021 to 2022, Williamson knows reversing this trend in fatalities is an achievable goal. He signs off his open letter with a call to everyone in the mining community to work together in striving for safety.
“I know that the entire community finds the troubling number of fatalities so far this year unacceptable,” Williamson says. “Reversing it will require the efforts of everyone in the mining community. MSHA knows that we cannot do this alone, and I am confident that we can count on you to continue to work with us to achieve significant improvements in miners’ safety and health. The nation’s miners, their families and mining communities deserve no less.”