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A Dangerous Profession

Mining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world-the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates just one percent of the world's labor force is engaged in mining, while the industry accounts for five percent of on-the-job fatalities.  Rock falls, tunnel collapses, fires, heat exhaustion, and other dangers claim the lives of over 15,000 miners every year. (Miners in the notoriously hazardous coal mines in China may account for as many as half of these deaths annually.)  In 1996, Pik Botha, the South African Minister for Mineral and Energy Affairs at the time, estimated that each ton of gold mined costs 1 life and 12 serious injuries.

Mine workers undergoing safety training in Ghana.  Credit: Penny Tweedie/Oxfam

Mining can cause a range of long-term disabilities, the most significant of which are respiratory problems such as silicosis, tuberculosis, bronchitis, and lung cancer.   The extreme heat in deep shaft mining (temperatures can get as high as 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees F)) and high atmospheric pressure can raise blood pressure and cause damage to the nervous system. In some countries, the lifespan of miners is substantially lower than that of the general population. In Bolivia, for example, the average miner in the tin mines of Potosí will live only 35 to 40 years, whereas the UN estimates the general population's life expectancy at birth is about 64 years.

For more information:

Undermining Workers.  A section of Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment.