As US coal demand surged, worker fatalities doubled YOY in 2021

U.S. coal miner fatalities doubled as demand for the black rock rose substantially in 2021.

With the number of workers in the sector steadily dwindling over several decades, fatalities have generally declined as well. However, 10 coal miners died on the job in 2021 as of Dec. 30, up from five fatalities in the prior year, according to U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration data.

Demand for coal surged in 2021, in part due to higher natural gas prices, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts coal demand will continue to rise in 2022.

Despite the increased demand, coal producers struggled to hire workers in 2021 and overall employment held relatively steady through the first three quarters even as production totals climbed, according to MSHA data. In the third quarter, the average number of U.S. coal workers remained down 3.2% year over year while production rose 9.1% over the same period.

Coal production dropped substantially in 2020 due largely to decreased demand as a result of precautions taken against COVID-19, and the five fatalities reported for the year marked a record low for the U.S. coal sector.

Annual coal worker fatality totals have fallen substantially from thousands of deaths in the early 1900s to fewer than a hundred miner fatalities since the mid-1980s. While that figure has continued to decline even further toward zero, there have been at least a dozen coal worker deaths every year on record except for 2016 and 2020.

West Virginia mines were the location of half of the coal mining fatalities in 2021. Meanwhile, Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, Wyoming and Pennsylvania each recorded a single coal mining fatality for the year. While Wyoming is a much larger producer of coal than West Virginia, it also employs far fewer miners to work at more productive, large-scale surface mines compared to the smaller underground and surface operations more typical to West Virginia.

Five of the 10 coal miner fatalities in 2021 were classified as powered haulage accidents, a broad term that includes ones involving shuttle cars, scoops, front loaders and conveyor belts. In July, the MSHA announced powered haulage fatalities across the broader U.S. mining sector year-to-date were the highest since 2006 and rolled out a Stand Down for Safety Day focused on educating miners on powered haulage issues and vehicle rollovers.

On Nov. 1, the agency began targeted inspections focused on mines identified as high-risk for powered haulage accidents, Nancy Rooney, an enforcement administrator with the MSHA, said on a Dec. 14 stakeholder call hosted by the agency. Each district targets mines with a history of powered haulage accidents, injuries, close calls or citations. The MSHA is also looking at mines with a high volume of truck traffic or complex traffic or haulage patterns, Rooney said.

The targeted inspections are continuing through Dec. 31. At the same time, the agency began emphasizing powered haulage issues during regular inspections and will continue to do so through March 31, 2022. As a result, Rooney said the MSHA has issued violations related to powered haulage at about one-third of U.S. mines since the program began. The top three related violations were failing to guard against moving parts, not maintaining audible warning devices and equipment defects.

"We feel that we have to use all the tools in the mine to try to lower powered haulage fatalities, injuries and risk," Patricia Silvey, deputy assistant secretary for operations at the MSHA, said on the stakeholder call.

Alpha Metallurgical Resources and Arch Resources Inc. each experienced two miner fatalities at their operations in 2021, according to MSHA fatality reports. Other coal mining companies listed as the controller for mines recording fatalities in 2021 included Alliance Resource Partners LP, Metinvest BV and ACNR Holdings Inc., the holding company for American Consolidated Natural Resources Inc.

Year-to-date fatalities across the broader mining sector totaled 37 as of MSHA's most recent Dec. 20 fatality report. If no further fatalities are reported in 2021, the annual total will be a 27.6% increase from 2020, when the U.S. mining sector experienced 29 fatalities.