Safety has long been a concern in the mining business , especially in sub-surface mining . The Courrières mine disaster , Europe 's worst mining accident , involved the death of 1,099 miners in Northern France on March 10 , 1906 . This disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26 , 1942 , which killed 1,549 miners . While mining today is substantially safer than it was in previous decades , mining accidents still occur . Government figures indicate that 5,000 Chinese miners die in accidents each year , while other reports have suggested a figure as high as 20,000 . Mining accidents continue worldwide , including accidents causing dozens of fatalities at a time such as the 2007 Ulyanovskaya Mine disaster in Russia , the 2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion in China , and the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in the United States . Mining has been identified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH ) as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda ( NORA ) to identify and provide intervention strategies regarding occupational health and safety issues . The Mining Safety and Health Administration ( MSHA ) was established in 1978 to " work to prevent death , illness , and injury from mining and promote safe and healthful workplaces for US miners . " Since its implementation in 1978 , the number of miner fatalities has decreased from 242 miners in 1978 to 28 miners in 2015
2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion
2009 Heilongjiang mine explosion
Mining