The History of Mining Accidents and Accident at Work Claims

Mining accidents within history are plentiful, but the accidents at work claims relating to this have been less abundant.

Until the introducing of Health and Safety initiatives, mines were perilous places where accidents at work were occurring at an alarming rate. Now, there are only 137 mining sites still in operation in the UK. This decrease has impacted the amount of fatalities within the industry. The death toll from mining-related accidents has fallen from one in a thousand workers to less than one, between the years of 2003-2007.

Why do mining accidents happen?

A combination of fires, floods, explosions and the collapsing of mines themselves have been responsible for the thousands of mining accidents in history. Most accidents sustain major injuries, but fatalities do occur and are not rare, unfortunately.

A most notable mining accident within the UK was that of an explosion at Coppice Colliery, Shipley, caused by a methane gas leak. Another drastic reported accident involved many child miners falling to their deaths after a worker opened the safety bar to a pit shaft.

Outdated, unreliable tool and machinery, poor training and inadequate health and safety standards contribute vastly to accidents at work in mines, particularly within the developing countries.

China, for example, accounts for 80 of the world’s coal.

The state Work Safety Supervision Administration states that 4.746 workers were killed in Chinese coal mines during 2006. This shows that there is still a long way to go to protect Chinese workers from mining accidents and resulting work injuries.

The most horrific mining disaster in the world to date took place in Benxihu Colliery, China on 26th April 1942. This involved a coal-dust explosion which claimed the lives of 1,549 miners. It is unlikely that the miners' friends and family made any accident at work claims for compensation in this instance, but had this happened today the miner's employers could face paying out millions.

Heightening the frequency of reporting these kinds of accidents means Health and Safety standards can do more to prevent them, gaining you, and others, more protection at work. So, if you have endured a work-related mining accident, then consider making a compensation claim.

16 trapped in flooded China coal mine

Sixteen miners were trapped in a colliery in northeastern China that flooded on Saturday in the latest accident to hit the country's deadly coal industry, state media reported.

The accident occurred early Saturday at a mine in the city of Jixi in Heilongjiang province, it said.

Twenty-two miners had been in the colliery at the time, with six managing to escape.

Rescue efforts were under way, it said.

Official figures showed that more than 3,200 workers died in China's notoriously dangerous coal mines last year, but independent observers say the actual figure could be higher, as many accidents are covered up.

Mining accidents claim 3

Three miners were killed in separate accidents at AngloGold Ashanti, Anglo Platinum and Harmony Gold mines in the past two days, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday.

A mine worker died at the Tau Tona mine near Carletonville around 1am on Thursday after being buried alive, AngloGold Ashanti said in a statement.

"A miner was killed in a fall of ground while securing a working place in haulage," read the statement. "The accident occurred at just after 1am on level 94. His body is being recovered."

The NUM said a second miner died at Harmony Gold's Elandsrand mine after a fall of ground — also on Thursday morning.

The third miner died in hospital on Wednesday, following an accident at an Anglo Platinum mine in Townlands late last month.

Also, more than 3000 mineworkers will observe a day of mourning on Thursday, following the death of a worker at AngloGold’s Savuka mine a week ago.

"The NUM is shocked that while those whose hands stink of workers' blood smile all the way to the bank, hundred of thousands of breadwinners' dependants are left with no food on their table.

"It is with this in mind that the NUM urges the DME [department of minerals and energy] to release the safety audit report as a matter of urgency and to take serious steps against these companies that seem to be competing to kill mineworkers."

Man killed in Hunter Valley mining accident

New South Wales Police are examining the cause of a fatal accident at a Hunter Valley coal mine.

A 34-year-old man was working underground in the mine at Glennies Creek, near Singleton, about 3.00am AEDT.

Police say it appears he may have been struck by a piece of machinery.

He suffered head injuries and died at the scene.

Fresh mine disasters hit China

More than 50 mine workers are feared dead in China, after two more accidents in the country's beleaguered mine industry, officials have reported.

The state new agency Xinhua reports that 39 miners are thought to have been killed after a gas explosion in a coal mine in the north-eastern province of Jilin.

News of the accident came shortly after it was announced that 15 miners had been trapped underground for two days by floods in the north-western province of Shaanxi.

Rescue workers were trying to save the men, but had not managed to install a pump to drain the mine.

Gas explosion

Correspondents say China's mining industry has a terrible safety record, with thousands of workers killed every year.

Thirty-nine miners were trapped after a powerful gas blast ripped through a coal pit in the town of Songshu in the Jilin province early on Thursday.

The Jilin explosion is the second such disaster in two weeks.

In the neighbouring province of Heilongjiang on 20 June, 115 coal miners were killed in a massive gas explosion.

Compensation Claims

and Accidents at Work