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Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities

Fact Sheet | Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction | May 2019

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction1

Fatal work injuries in the private mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector were 26 percent higher in 2017 than in 2016. There were 112 fatalities in 2017, compared with 89 in 2016. The five-year average was 132 (for 2013-2017). The fatal injury rate was 12.9 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2017, higher than the published all worker fatal injury rate or 3.5. For more detailed information on fatal injuries by industry, see the industry tables in the 2017 data section at www.bls.gov/iif/fatal-injuries-tables.htm. You can also find more information on fatal injury rates at www.bls.gov/iif/fatal-injuries-tables.htm#rates.

There were 10,200 nonfatal work injuries and illnesses in the private mining sector2 in 2017. The published incidence rate of the private mining sector was 1.5 per 10,000 FTE workers in 2017, less than the published rate of 2.8 for all private sector workers. There were 4,800 cases requiring days away from work in 2017. The incidence rate of mining sector cases requiring days away from work was 0.7 per 10,000 FTE workers.

For more information on both fatal and nonfatal data in the private mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector please see the Beyond the Numbers article Injuries, illnesses, and fatal injuries in mining in 2010 and the fact sheet on 2014 and 2015 data.

Nonfatal data for mining operators in coal, metal, and nonmetal mining are provided to BLS by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), while fatal data uses MSHA as one of several sources. The scope of MSHA and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) are different, and totals will differ. The CFOI includes fatal injuries at all establishments categorized as Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (Sector 21) in the North American Industry Classification System, including establishments not governed by the MSHA rules and reporting, such as those in oil and gas extraction. The fatal data also captures all events and exposures that are work related in the mining sector, including suicides and transportation incidents.

Oil and gas extraction

Oil and gas extraction industries include oil and gas extraction (North American Industry Classification System—NAICS—21111), drilling oil and gas wells (NAICS 213111), and support activities for oil and gas operations (NAICS 213112).

The number of fatal work injury cases in oil and gas extraction industries was 29 percent higher in 2017 than in 2016, rising to 81 from 63. Oil and gas extraction industries made up 72 percent of the total fatalities in the mining sector in 2017.

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries typically combines these industries into a single category to best cover private oil and gas extraction industries. See the chart below for 15 years of data on oil and gas extraction industries. More detailed information is available on fatal occupational injuries in the oil and gas extraction industries table.

Counts are available for this combined group, but BLS does not publish a fatal injury rate for the combined oil and gas extraction industries shown in the chart because employment data are not available from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which CFOI uses for rate calculations, for those industries. BLS only calculates rates for NAICS 21111, oil and gas extraction, which makes up 10 percent of the fatal injuries of the combined oil and gas industries in 2017. In 2017, the fatality rate for NAICS 21111 was 7.9 per 100,000 FTE workers, a rate was not calculated for this industry in 2016 as it did not meet the threshold criteria. Rates for other industries are at https://www.bls.gov/iif/fatal-injuries-tables.htm#rates.

You can discuss the larger oil and gas extraction industries (NAICS 21111, 213111, and 213112) using counts or the smaller oil and gas extraction industry (NAICS 21111) using counts or fatal injury rates.

Additional nonfatal oil and gas industry data are available through the online profiles tool, including data series on the number of cases or rates involving days away from work, cases and rates of all Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-recordable cases, and fatal injury cases. Data is available for the three oil and gas extraction industries, but the tool does not combine these industries.

For more information on the oil and gas extraction industry (and related oil and gas topics) see the following facts sheets and articles:

Coal mining

Coal mining recorded more fatal work injuries in 2017 than in 2016; there were 17 in 2017, compared with 7 in 2015. Coal mining fatalities made up 15 percent of the total mining sector in 2017.

There were 2,300 nonfatal injuries and illnesses, 1,400 of which required days away from work in 2017.

For more information on the coal mining industry, see the following facts sheets and articles:

More information

For technical information and definitions, please see the BLS Handbook of Methods.

You can obtain data from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program by using the following tools: Create Customized Tables (Multiple Screens), Create Customized Tables (Single Screen), and the Online Profiles System. Additional tables and charts are on the IIF homepage and the IIF State page.

Notes

1 The private mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector industry sector includes such subsectors as oil and gas extraction, coal mining, metal ore mining, nonmetallic mineral mining and quarrying, and support activities for mining. The IIF program uses the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to define industry. From 2003 to 2008 the IIF program used the 2002 NAICS. For 2009 to 2013 data, the IIF program used the 2007 NAICS to classify industry data. Since 2014, the IIF program has used the 2012 NAICS. More on NAICS can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm.

2 Data for mining operators in this industry are provided to BLS by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Independent mining contractors are excluded. These data do not reflect the changes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration made to its recordkeeping requirements effective January 1, 2002; therefore, estimates for these industries are not comparable to estimates in other industries.

 

Last Modified Date: May 7, 2019