Risk of injuries among coal mine workers and its hysteresis

Abstract

The paper gives an overview of employment in coal mining, levels of extraction and injuries among the coal mine operators in Poland over a span of time from 1954 through to 2010. The injury indicators, such as the incidence rate, severity and the generalized loss index, have been assessed for a period of coal mining sector restructuring from 1993 to 2010. Diverging trends have been revealed, resulting in a need to extend the time span of the analysis. Analysis of records from 1954 to 2010 has shown a multiple cyclicity of trends of change in the values used to derive coefficients. The definition of the Injury Risk has been justified, along with a new way for its representation and its interpretation as a new method with account of the previous studies. Based on this method the injuries at the coal mines of Poland during a period of their restructuring have been investigated with analyzed database expansion to include records from 1954 to 2010.As a result a new dependency, namely the injury risk hysteresis, has been identified.