Historical Fatality Experience

Noncoal mining fatality records have been historically less certain than those for coal, especially prior to 1958 when the Department of the Interior first required all metal and nonmetal mine operators to report fatahties (House of Representatives Report No. 95-312 1977). After the establishment of the Bureau of Mines, fatality statistics certainly became more rehable in coal mining. Table 1.2 gives documented deaths for coal and noncoal mining in 5-year increments beginning with 1911. 

TABLE 1.2 U.S. S-year mine fatality experience since 1911  

Time Period Avg. Coal Fatals/Yr Avg. Other Fatals/Yr Avg. Total Fatals/Yr Avg. Workers/Y r (000s) Avg. Fatals/100 Miners 

Generally, the fatality incident rate declined steadily over the years since 1911, but it dropped most rapidly after World War II (1946-1950) and following the passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (1971-1975) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 (1976-1980). There were a few exceptions where progress stalled however, as we wiU discuss in greater detail, a combination of factors has led to enormous strides in increased safety in the twentieth century. 

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Adoption of the Heinrich premise leads to misdirection in resource application, as well as ineffectiveness with respect to serious harm potentials. My experience has been that many incidents resulting in fatality or severe injury are singular and unique events, that their causal factors are multifaceted and complex, and that descriptions of similar incidents are seldom found in the historical body of incident data. 

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