Health & safety in Polish mines 2016

A detailed report on health & safety in all sectors of mining and mining plants will be ready at the turn of March and April 2017. The SMA is verifying data regarding employment rate in mining plants and light accidents. The indices of fatalities per 1 000 employees and per a million ton of material are also being computed. Statistical research has a practical dimension – it shows supervision priorities for the mining authorities in the following months. The main dangers occurring in mining are already identified, but their specific and intensity changes in mining plants and this needs to be addressed not only in supervisory activities of the mining authorities, but also in everyday prevention schemes carried out by the entrepreneurs.

An analysis of last year's data shows that the state of health and safety in 2016 has increased in hard coal mining in relation to 2015, which was one of the safest years in the last quarter of century in regard to fatal and serious accidents. Unfortunately this trend does not apply to all types of mining and, as a result, the number of fatal accidents in the Polish extractive industry increased from 19 in 2015 to 27 in 2016, including 10 fatal accidents in hard coal mines ­– 2 less than in 2015. The number of serious accidents in 2016 decreased from 12 in 2015 to 8 in 2016, including 5 accidents of this type in hard coal mines ­– 2 less than in 2015. The overall number of accidents in Polish mining in 2016 reached 2 073, including 1 575 in hard coal mining plants. This means an overall decrease of accidents by 3.9% in relation to 2015 and a decrease of 7.5% for hard coal mining plants.