NIOSH Mining Safety and Health Research

National Survey of the Mining Population

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), as part of its effort to improve the safety and health of American workers, tracks the number and rates of work-related injuries, fatalities, and disease for the mining labor force. Since 1986, there has been little research on the demographics of the nation´s miners, such as age, gender, job title, and years of mining experience. These data are needed to understand the risk of work-related injuries and disease, and to customize safety and health interventions for specific subgroups of the mining industry. To fill this data gap, the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory has conducted a national survey of mining operations and their employees.

Objectives

The objectives of the survey are to:

• Collect basic information about mining operations.
• Establish the demographic and occupational characteristics of mine operator employees for each mining sector (coal, metal, nonmetal, stone, and sand and gravel); and
• Estimate the number and occupational characteristics of independent contractor employees used by mining operations.

Description

There are two sets of data that were collected:

1. The mine questions included items about the mining operation such as its use of independent contractors, work schedules, and safety and communication measures.
2. The employee questions included demographic and occupational questions about mine employees.

Results

The analysis of the survey data will begin in 2009 with publications becoming available in 2010. If you would like further information, please contact: