US mines see safest year on record, feds say

The United States mining industry this year reported its fewest fatalities and lowest injury rate in nearly four decades of records, federal regulators said.

{mosads}Mines had only 25 deaths in fiscal 2016, which ended Sept. 30, the Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) said Thursday in its biannual release of mine safety data.

That compares with 38 deaths in fiscal 2015 and is the lowest since records began in 1978, which saw 242 miner deaths in the calendar year.

The rate of mine worker injuries in fiscal 2016 was 2.14 per 200,000 hours of work, another record low, the MSHA said.

Coal mines account for only nine of 2016’s deaths, the lowest for the sector. The remainder of the deaths came from mining other minerals like metals and stone.