Abstract
The safety record of the coal mining industry in 1968 worsened appreciably in fatality experience but was slightly better in nonfatal injury experience. Work fatalities in 1968 totaled 311 and occurred at a frequency rate of 1.33 Per million man-hours or worktime. The fatality total was 89 higher, and the rate of occurrence was 45 percent higher than the corresponding figures of 222 fatal injuries with a frequency rate of 0.92 In 1967. The worsened fatality record in 1968 resulted primarily from two major disasters (a single accident which results in the death of five men or more) which killed 87 men, nine in one and 78 in the second. The total of 9,639 nonfatal injuries was the lowest annual figure in complete records since 1930. The frequency rate of 41.12 Nonfatal injuries per million man-hours of worktime for 1968 was the second lowest annual rate of occurrence. The severity rate of all injuries, 10,513 days lost or charged per million man-hours, and the average severity, 248 days lost per injury, in 1968 were the worst annual data in the series started in 1944. Total worktime of 234.4 million man-hours and coal output of 553.3 million tons in 1968 were, respectively, 3 and 1 percent lower than in 1967.
