The Analysis of Fatal Accidents in Indian Coal Mines

Abstract

This paper describes the analysis of fatal incidents of Indian coal mines from April 1989 to March 1998. It is found that Indian mines have considerably higher accident and fatality rates compared to those in USA and South Africa, respectively. While open cast mines are generally known to be safer than underground mines, the Indian open cast mines are shown to be at least as hazardous to the workers as the Indian underground mines. Analysis of the accident rates is made via a few regression models involving the effects of working shifts, the various companies, the types of mine, manshift and production. The accident-prone combinations of mine type and company are identified for follow-up action. The break-up of the accidents by cause is also studied. AMS (2000) Subject Classification: Primary 62-07; Secondary 62P99, 62N05.