--- Mark Bennett <mab at straussandasher.com> wrote:
> standing. The NIOSH has
> some comprehensive historical data on mine disasters
> (five or more
> deaths) available on its website.
>
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/statistics/disall.htm
>
>
> Following the timeline of these disasters tells
> quite a story.
It would, if these figures were controlled for the amount of coal produced. As they are right now, they are only telling that mining disasters are significantly down comparing to 100 years ago. However, even with such control I would think that the fatality to amunt of coal produced ratio did significantly decline due to mechanization. Similar data for Poland show a rather dramatic drop in accidents during th epast 50 years while production increased (The blue line in chart on the bottom, red bars show coal production) http://www.wug.gov.pl/a_wypadki.html
for the UK: http://www.hse.gov.uk/mining/accident/
Mining is a dangerous occupation - there is always a high risk of injury or death. Other countries e.g. China have much worse record: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/03/content_397152.htm
I think a more intersting question is why was not the mine unionized?
Wojtek
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