In 2020, mining-related deaths declined and the mining industry achieved its highest compliance with U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration health standards, which protect the long-term health and safety of miners. The year 2020 saw all-time-low average concentrations of respirable dust and respirable quartz in underground coal mines, as well as exposure to dust and quartz for miners at highest risk of overexposure to respirable dust.

That said, the agency issued thousands of citations in 2020 for violations of the Mine Safety and Health Act, and the fines for all of those citations add up to millions of dollars. And despite the good news of fewer fatal injuries and fewer citations, miners continue to die and be seriously injured at work.

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