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Study pinpoints likely causes of mine injuries

On Behalf of | May 21, 2019 | Workers' Compensation

Workers in New Jersey may be at a higher risk of injury if they work long hours or aren’t properly trained. This has been found to be true as it relates to accidents involving mine workers. A study from the University of Illinois at Chicago analyzed roughly 546,000 mine injury reports from 1983 to 2015. The study found that 9.6% of injured miners in that time period had worked nine or more hours on the day that they were injured.

Working such long hours puts other mine workers in danger as well. According to the study, those who worked nine hours or more in a day were 73% more likely to cause an accident that injured other workers. There were many reasons why an individual would be on the job for so long in a given day. Having less than two years of experience was one of the factors cited.

Other factors that could make working longer shifts dangerous include irregular schedules or a lack of routine. The UIC research team said that consideration should be given to allowing workers to have fixed schedules. Furthermore, mine operators should consider the experience level of the contract workers used in the mines themselves. The study itself was published in April in the journal BMJ Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Individuals who are injured in a workplace accident may be entitled to compensation for their injuries regardless of how the accident occurred. Accidents might occur because of improper safety equipment, a lack of a safety plan or because employees were forced to work long shifts. An attorney may review a case and help a worker determine how to get financial assistance under the workers’ compensation system.

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