Average number of people who die each day working in or with Chinese coal mines, from physical disasters, such as flooding, explosion, cave-ins, or collapse: 16
Unofficial estimates are 40 percent higher.
That is from the current issue of Scientific American, p.73.
The plight of coal miners around the world is not to be taken lightly, the freedoms we so often concern ourselves with are needed by them as much as by anyone you can think of. The AP says China accounts for 80% of the world’s coal fatalities.
Still, does 16 or perhaps 23 fatalities a day seem surprisingly high for a still very poor country that is rushing ahead economically and depends on coal for 70% of it’s energy? Especially when there are thousands of small owner-operators who may not be able to afford precautions we’d regard as most basic? And where big operators are regulated in a most corrupt environment?
7,000 Chinese coal mining deaths a year is an enormous tragedy… and a heck of a reason to support Walmart and Target, who are pushing their suppliers to create the “sweat shops” and broad-based development that gives mass numbers of potential coal miners much better job opportunities.
When the US was at a similar level of development…when average people could reasonably afford a horse or bike and consistently sufficient calories…and even might begin to know someone who owned a car…say in 1913: the Bureau of Labor Statistics documented approximately 23,000 industrial deaths among a workforce of 38 million, equivalent to a rate of 61 deaths per 100,000 workers. But miners faced the worst odds, during 1911-1915, an average of 3329 mining-related deaths occurred per year among approximately 1 million miners employed annually, with an average annual fatality rate of 329 per 100,000 miners. http://www.weitzlux.com/workaccidentshistory_725.html
With about 5.5 million coal miners today, China’s current coal mine mortality would seem to be less than half that… about 130 per 100,000, which given modern technology and the level of poverty in China’s coal mining areas….seems close to what we might expect.
During the last century we’ve seen US mining deaths reduced 37 fold. Would that China will, over the next few years do even better. God bless Milton Friedman, Lee Kwan Yu, Deng Xiaoping and a thousand others who worked to make it possible.
It seems to me that 1 death in a coal mine is too many… and it
is heartening to see this kind of concern. I still remember the horror of coal mine distares in Nova Scotia when I was growing up and it was sad to see the impact on an entire community. Thanks for the news and for showing us some hope that things are improving for coal miners’ safety.
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