Dying for Coal: The Struggle for Health and Safety Conditions in American Coal Mining, 1930-82

This paper examines the determinants of fatal and nonfatal coal mining injuries in the U.S. from 1930–82. Three theoretical orientations are considered as explanations for the long-term secular decline in both fatal and nonfatal injury rates during this period: state regulation, industrial business climate, and resource mobilization theory. Previous research has pointed to the importance of state regulatory and enforcement activity as the key determinant in lower injury rates and has neglected features of the industrial business climate and the collective capacities of miners to organize effectively against unsafe conditions. The results of multivariate time series analyses suggest that these neglected factors are equally or more important than state regulatory efforts for the improved health and safety conditions in American coal mining. Several of the statistical results are illustrated by reference to the events surrounding the 1984 accident in the Wilberg mine in Utah which killed 27 persons. It is suggested that state regulation and enforcement of safety standards should be encompassed under the resource mobilization perspective.