Injuries and illnesses among bituminous and lignite coal miners (ABSTRACT), Monthly Labor Review Online, Oct. 1993

Injuries and illnesses among bituminous and lignite coal miners

Jack Reardon
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin - Stout, WI

Data indicate that surface mining is safer than underground mining. The preponderant injury categories are, aspirin, contusion, cut, and fracture; the preponderant illness category is 'dust diseases of the lungs'. This article describes mining processes associated with the coal industry and, more specifically, the factors associated with injury and illness in the bituminous and lignite coal industry.¹

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Footnotes
¹ Lignite is the lowest rank of coal in heat content moisture. In 1990, lignite accounted for approximately 10 percent of the total coal mined in the United States. Excluded from this analysis is anthracite coal, which accounted for less than 1 percent of coal mined in 1990, and coal mining services for others on a contract or fee basis. See Coal Data: A Reference, (U.S. Department of Energy, 199 1), p. 39.

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