Accident toll in a Norwegian Spitsbergen mining community

The coal mining community of Longyearbyen suffered a total loss of 84 persons in fatal accidents during the 40-year period from 1950 to 1989. Up to the beginning of the 1970's the great majority of injuries causing death were related to coal mining. In the 20-year period from 1970-1989 14 people died in occupational accidents. 24 were killed during off-work hours. The male population, averaging, 776 individuals through the observation period, run a risk of being involved in a fatal leisure-time accident nearly 3 times that of age-matched groups on the Norwegian mainland. Potential years of life lost for the Spitsbergen group were estimated to be of a magnitude 2.6 times that of the mainland. The females are even worse off with a risk of having a fatal accident which is 18 times higher. Occupational deaths in the mines were nearly 2 times as frequent as in the mines on the Norwegian mainland. We have moved a long way towards the control of fatal occupational accidents. The rise in non-occupational fatal injuries means, however, that the overall safety gain is meagre.