State

United States and used in the various States during December, 1926.

570,853

20,821,420

40,800
6,837,696

Quantity of explosives sold for use in COAL MINES in December 1926 by manufacturers renderig monthly reports.

NOTE: As several companies do not furnish the Bureau of lines with monthly reports of their sales, the above figures for any given State may be subject to material revision. The figures as iven are bas. d on reports received.

COAL-MINE FATALITIES IN DECEMBER, 1926, AND PRELIMINARY

Accidents at coal mines in the United States in the month of December 1926 resulted in the loss of 248 lives, according to information received from State mine inspectors by the Bureau of Mines, Department of Commerce. Of this number 46 were lost in anthracite mines in Pennsylvania and 202 were in bituminous mines in various States. As the output of bituminous coal during the month was 57,671,000 tons, the fatality rate per million tons for bituminous mines was 3.50, while the anthracite rate was 6.11, based on a production of 7,528,000 tons. The combined rate for both classes of mines was 3.80 per million tons.

The December fatalities brought the total number of deaths at all coal mines in the United States in the year 1926 to 2,510. The output of coal during the year is estimated at 663,290,000 tons; hence the fatality rate per million tons, according to present information, was 3.78 as compared with 3.84 for 1925. Final returns from producing companies showing the number of employees and amount of coal produced in 1926 will not become available for several months.

The reports for December recorded only one major disaster

that is.. a disaster causing the death of 5 or more men. This was an explosion on December 9 at Francisco, Indiana, causing the death of 37 men. There were 16 of these "major" disasters during the year and they caused 348 deaths, as compared with 14 disasters in 1925 in which 270 lives were lost. The per-millionton death rate, based exclusively on these major accidents, was 0.52 in 1926 and 0.46 in 1925.

An examination of the principal causes of accidents in 1926 shows a very slight reduction in the death rates per million tons from falls of roof and coal and for explosives, and a slight increase in the rates for haulage accidents and for gas and dust explosions. The rate for electricity remained unchanged. Comparative rates for the two years were as follows:

1- Statistician, Bureau of Mines, Department of Commerce.