Mining is a dangerous profession. It's estimated that around 12,000 people are killed each year whilst carrying out work inside a mine. This figure is only based on reported deaths. The nature of the work, and the fact that much of the mining done today is carried out in developing countries, or places that don't observe human rights laws, means that the true extent of injuries and deaths are hidden.
But what, specifically, are the hazards. As you might expect from the events covered in the media, such as the recent rescue of thirty three workers from a shaft in Chile, roof collapse is one of the main dangers. It's a scary thought, but since mining began many people have been entombed while carrying out their work. In a recent accident in China over two hundred people were killed in one such collapse.
Vehicles pose a major hazard in the upper sections of mines, where heavy trucks must manoeuvre at speed around tight spaces in pitch black conditions. But it's when you go deeper underground that the dangers multiply. As well as the structural dangers involved with being under so many tonnes of rock, there are also many harmful gases that live between the folds of the earth. Miners call these gases 'damps,' based on a German naming system. These range from Black damps which suffocate workers if gone undetected for a long period, and fire damps which are highly flammable gases with the potential of igniting whole networks of shafts.
Illness is another hazard of a life of mining, and there are a lot of repiratory diseases associated with work in coal-dust. The most well-known of these is called 'black lung' and around ten thousand people are diagnosed with this chronic disease each year in China alone.
The developed world has done a lot to protect its own workers, but the fact remains that much of our coal comes from places where people work at a level of terrifying risk.
But what, specifically, are the hazards. As you might expect from the events covered in the media, such as the recent rescue of thirty three workers from a shaft in Chile, roof collapse is one of the main dangers. It's a scary thought, but since mining began many people have been entombed while carrying out their work. In a recent accident in China over two hundred people were killed in one such collapse.
Vehicles pose a major hazard in the upper sections of mines, where heavy trucks must manoeuvre at speed around tight spaces in pitch black conditions. But it's when you go deeper underground that the dangers multiply. As well as the structural dangers involved with being under so many tonnes of rock, there are also many harmful gases that live between the folds of the earth. Miners call these gases 'damps,' based on a German naming system. These range from Black damps which suffocate workers if gone undetected for a long period, and fire damps which are highly flammable gases with the potential of igniting whole networks of shafts.
Illness is another hazard of a life of mining, and there are a lot of repiratory diseases associated with work in coal-dust. The most well-known of these is called 'black lung' and around ten thousand people are diagnosed with this chronic disease each year in China alone.
The developed world has done a lot to protect its own workers, but the fact remains that much of our coal comes from places where people work at a level of terrifying risk.
