U.S. MINING DEATHS REACH RECORD LOW OF 98 IN 1992

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993                   TAG: 9301080086
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: STATE   
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
U.S. MINING DEATHS REACH RECORD LOW OF 98 IN 1992
The U.S. mining industry in 1992 reported the lowest yearly death toll in its history, officials announced Thursday.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration said there were 98 fatalities last year at the nation's coal, metal and non-metal mines. Assistant Labor Secretary Bill Tattersall, the head of MSHA, said that's the first time the total has been below 100 since federal officials began keeping records.
The previous best year was in 1988, when 102 people died in mining accidents. The 1991 death toll was 114.
Fifty-five of last year's deaths occurred in coal mining, Tattersall said. He said the coal-mining industry would have had a record year as well - until the Dec. 7 explosion at a Southwest Virginia mine that killed eight men.
Preliminary reports show some of the men might have been smoking in the mine and that a methane-measuring device had been tampered with.
Death tolls for the rest of the nation's coal-mining states that reported fatalities were: West Virginia, 17; Kentucky, nine; Alabama and Tennessee, three each; Colorado, Illinois and Pennsylvania, two each; Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Utah, one each.

NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro.
Keywords:
FATALITY

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB