The industry ignores mining safety for its workers to maximize profits—the payment structure is premised off the greater the danger, the higher the pay.

(Claudia R. Williamson, THE CULTURAL OPPOSITION TO CAPITALISM: MYTHBUSTING THROUGH OUR PAST, , 2007)

Coal miners performed a dangerous job. They faced higher safety risks than workers in most¶ other industries. Before 1930, three to four men were killed per 1,000 workers each year.¶ Accident rates varied across states, but were higher in West Virginia than any other state east¶ of the Mississippi River. Why would anyone choose to be a coal miner given these¶ conditions? It’s quite simple; the job paid well. Coal miners received higher hourly earnings¶ than workers in other industries precisely because of the danger involved. If a specific job or¶ company was considered more dangerous, miners would be less likely to accept these jobs.¶ Therefore, miners required higher wages to work under these conditions.¶ The fatal accident count stayed relatively constant in the U.S. before 1930. However,¶ this is somewhat deceiving. In 1910, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was created with a focus on¶ mainly large-scale accidents, defined as gas and dust explosions and other accidents killing¶ more than five men. State mining legislation was also mainly concerned with these types of¶ accidents. This resulted in a decline in large-scale accidents, but an increase in small-scale¶ accidents, which received less publicity but accounted for more deaths overall.¶ Figure 4.2 below shows data on fatal accident rates in coal mining. The fatal accident¶ rates shown in the figure are the number of accidents per 10 million man hours worked. The¶ data show that small-scale accidents (such as roof falls, hauling accidents, small explosions,¶ and electrocutions) accounted for the vast majority, or 84 percent (17.6 ÷ 20.9), of fatal¶ accidents. Large-scale accidents accounted for only the remaining 16 percent.¶ Most small-scale accidents occurred in a miner’s room due to a roof fall or a misfired¶ explosive and were the result of the choices made by the miners themselves about the¶ individual safety precautions they took on their jobs. Miners were paid by the amount of coal¶ they could dig out and were given a significant amount of independence to decide the best¶ way to achieve this. Thus, miners faced a direct tradeoff between income and safety and were¶ left free to decide how much safety prevention to undertake.3¶ Though incorrect, it is common to see ‘greedy’ mine operators as the reason that¶ mines could be quite dangerous. Often times, both miners and operators chose to ignore¶ safety decisions in order to increase productivity, because it meant more income for both the¶ mine owner and the miners themselves. Nevertheless, due to the dangerous work conditions¶ in coal mining, government decided to regulate the industry with safety legislation. However,¶ the effects of this legislation were mostly disappointing (Graebner 1976).