Child Miners, 20th Century, United States

Safety
Safety has long been a controversial issue in the mining business especially with sub-surface mining. While mining today is substantially safer than it was in the previous decades, mining accidents are often very high profile, such as the Quecreek Mine Rescue saving 9 trapped Pennsylvania coal miners in 2002. The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners (including many children) in Northern France on 10 March 1906. It seems that this disaster was surpassed only by the Benxihu Colliery accident in China on April 26, 1942, which killed 1,549 miners. 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 ventilation is a significant safety concern for many miners. Poor ventilation of the mines causes exposure to harmful gases, heat and dust inside sub-surface mines. These can cause harmful physiological effects, including death. The concentration of methane and other airborne contaminants underground can generally be controlled by dilution (ventilation), capture before entering the host air stream (methane drainage), or isolation (seals and stoppings).
Ignited methane gas is a common source of explosions in coal mines, or, the more violent coal dust explosions. Gases in mines can also poison the workers or displace the oxygen in the mine, causing asphyxiation. For this reason, the MHSA requires that workers have gas detection equipment in groups of miners. It must be able to detect common gases, such as CO, O2, H2S, CH4 and % Lower Explosive Limit. Regulation requires that all production stops if there is a concentrate of 1.4% of flammable gas present. Additionally, further regulation is being requested for more gas detection as newer technology such as nanotechnology is introduced.