Roof Fall Accidents Remain Leading Cause of Coal Miner Injuries
The number of roof fall accidents has declined, however.
According to a news release, the number of accidents involving roof and rib falls or coal bursts has significantly reduced. This is attributed to improvements in roof control technology in underground coal mines.
That being said, these accidents remain a leading cause of injuries. Since 2013, roof falls led to the deaths of five continuous mining machine operators and injured 83 other operators.
MSHA has launched the Preventive Roof/Rib Outreach Program as a result, which focuses on continuous mining machine operator safety.