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6 June, 2011
A study conducted by a Stanford University Law School professor reveals that there are significantly fewer fatalities and injuries in underground unionized coal mines in the US than in non-union ones. Alison Morantz examined coal mine safety statistics between 1993 and 2008 and found that traumatic injuries in unionized mines were from 17-33% fewer than in non-union mines, and the rate of fatalities ranged from 33-72% less.
Of specific note, Professor Morantz found that the non-traumatic injury rate in US coal mining is higher and she suggested that is because injury reporting practices are more common in union mines than non-union mines.
During the 15-year period that was studied, there was a decrease in the number of mine-related injuries per hours worked, although the number of traumatic injuries has remained relatively level. During the same period, the rate of unionization in US mining dropped from 21% in 1993 to 10% in 2008.
UMWA President Cecil Roberts
Morantz used numbers pegged to per man-year, or the average time worked in a year. She found that there are .037 traumatic injuries per man-year at union mines, and .047 at non-union mines. Regarding fatalities, the rate is .0003 per man-year at unionized mines and .0006 at non-union mines. The aggregate injury rate, reflecting better reporting at union mines, is .126 at union mines and .115 at non-union ones.
Morantz concluded of her finding that there is “a strong presumption that a union safety effects exists in US coal mining.”
The study parallels the exemplary work that ICEM affiliate United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has done over the past decades regarding safety and health in mines, including getting the US government to ratify ILO Convention 176 in the late 1990s. The UMWA has institutionalised comprehensive safety programmes and advanced training for on-the-job safety experts in its represented mines.
“Miners have long known that there is a union safety effect, as the study calls it," said UMWA President Cecil Roberts. “Working in a union-represented mine, with the backing of our Local Union safety committees and our International Union safety experts, makes a huge difference. I am pleased to see that has been confirmed by a comprehensive, independent scientific study."
Dr. Morantz’s independent study was funded by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the full study can be accessed here.