Is Mining Dangerous?
Do you know that mining industry seems the only hazardous industry for labour force until recently? In line with research from the Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), Mining is the only but largely risky industry for workers. The 2001 of BLS report shows that there is 23.5 deaths per every 100,000 workers compared to other industries like fishing, forestry and agriculture. There is much death in mining industry when weighed against construction industry which has only 12.2 per 100,000 construction workers.
On the other hand, a report by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration shows that mining has ranked low in the list of main hazardous occupations in the world. It has been observed that pilots, taxi drivers and roofers are now at the top of the list.
The reason behind this improvement is owing to the effort put into minimizing explosion hazards and enhancing quality of air and upgrading equipments and mining procedures. Owing to these remarkable changes in mining industry, degree of injury has reduced drastically.
Worthy of note is that number of casualty is dependent on countries. In United States of America, the number fluctuates from one state to another. In China, the spate is very high. In 2008 in US, about 28 persons died in mining-associated jobs while the number in China is as high as 6027. In the world, China represents 80% of mining-associated deaths. The great hazards of mining, though low in recent times, are in collapse of roof and explosion of gas. Dust blast, flooding, defective mining equipment and fire, yearly bring about high spate of disaster. Particularly in China, little attention is given to safety regulations.