A Retrospective Comparative Study of Serbian Underground Coalmining Injuries

During 2011, a study was undertaken to assess safety conditions in Serbian underground coalmines by analysis of injury data. The study covered all Serbian coalmines, identified week spots from the aspect of safety, and recommended possible courses of action. Since then, Serbia has made changes to safety and health legislation; all coalmines introduced new preventive measures, adopted international standards, and made procedures for risk management. After 10 years a new study has been performed to analyze the impact of these changes.

In this study, the injuries that have occurred in the Serbian underground coal mines over the last 20 years were analyzed. Statistical data analysis was performed by IBM SPSS Statistics v23. The injuries that occurred in the last ten years were compared with the results of the previous study (2000-2009). The average values of injury rates for both periods were compared for each of the categories (severity, age, body part, qualification), and the results were presented as absolute difference or percentile difference.

The results showed reduction in the number of injuries in the category of 20-30 years old workers, where the new training procedures for workers, which were set by mandatory legal regulations, certainly contributed. They also showed an increase in the number of injuries in the category of old workers, which indicates that the law did not have a positive effect on this category.

The total number of injuries is still high; therefore, it is necessary to introduce mechanization and automation in mines and have a better policy for older workers who retire later nowadays.