National Miners Day – Honoring Our Nation’s Mine Workers
December 6 is National Miners Day, a day designated by Congress to honor the contributions and sacrifices of miners both past and present. At the Mine Safety and Health Administration we take this day to heart.
Many of us at this agency have a personal connection to miners and mining through family, friends and our own experiences. We may have worked in the mines ourselves, as I did starting as an 18-year-old in the northern West Virginia coal fields. Others proudly point to family and friends who made their living and raised families by extracting all types of minerals from the ground. Nearly all of the hundreds of MSHA inspectors who work across the country came to us with mining experience and they talk with miners nearly every day.
We have created a resource page at www.msha.gov/minersday providing links to a video,graphics and other materials that the public is welcome to use to join us in commemorating this important date.
The date for National Miners Day was selected to commemorate the worst industrial accident in American history. On Dec. 6, 1907, 362 miners perished in an explosion at the No. 6 and No. 8 mines in Monongah, West Virginia. Many of us have seen the consequences of the continuing sacrifices made by miners and their families. But we also have seen the progress that has been made in miner safety and health -- and we share the pride of miners and the mining industry who have worked to make these steady and important improvements.
The 366,000 miners working in the United States today extract nearly 100 different kinds of minerals from the earth. Miners produce the gravel, crushed stone, tar, asphalt, road salt and cement used to build and maintain the nation’s highways. The bridges that span canyons, creeks and rivers are built with ores, rock and minerals produced by miners. Coal generates electricity for our homes, businesses and communities. Gold, silver and copper wiring, ceramic insulators and memory chips are essential components in electronics, such as smartphones, computers and televisions that we use daily. Thousands of everyday consumer goods are made with the fundamental materials secured from the mining process. They range from cosmetics to toothpaste, from cookware and dinnerware to appliances.
At MSHA our mission is to do all that we can to see that those who choose the occupation of miner can go to work, put in their shift and return home each and every day safe and healthy.
Each day, working with the mining community, we look for ways to make mining safer and healthier. Recognizing that we all still have more work to do---on this sixth anniversary of Miners Day---we can report we have made progress on mine safety and health since Congress dedicated that day in 2009.
Respirable coal mine dust causes the black lung disease that has contributed to tens of thousands of deaths. However, since the "End Black Lung" campaign began in 2009, coal mine dust levels have dropped to historic lows. More miners are going home at the end of the shift as mining deaths and injuries are reduced. Last year, coal mining had the fewest number of mining deaths ever recorded.
In addition, thanks to the work of the mining community, we recently have seen a substantial decrease in metal and nonmetal deaths, which had been on the rise following years of historically lows. Mine site compliance has improved and the universe of chronic violators, once tolerated, has been substantially reduced.
In the past several years, MSHA has given unprecedented support to those miners who have been retaliated against for speaking out about dangerous safety and health conditions, filing a record number of cases of discrimination and temporary reinstatement on their behalf. Miners now have a better voice on workplace safety and health, a voice that they deserve!
On this National Miners Day, we hope you'll join us in saluting the men and women who have chosen the occupation of mining. At MSHA, we rededicate ourselves to our core mission – working to protect from injury, illness and death the mining industry’s most precious resource, the nation's miners.
More information
Read “A Nod to Our Nation’s Miners – Yesterday and Today” on the U.S. Department of Labor Blog