Comment by nl

I suspect the vast majority of deaths in underground mining in the US aren't from cave-ins but instead from heavy equipment accidents.

According to [1] there were 8 deaths in underground machine operators category in 2022.

There's a more detailed table at [2] but I don't quite understand how this aligns with the first one (the numbers seem different, but I think the category is "Mining (except oil and gas)").

In any case the majority of fatalities are from "Transportation incidents" or "Contact with object and equipment". I think cave-ins would be classed as "Fires and explosions"

[1] https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-inju...

[2] https://www.bls.gov/iif/fatal-injuries-tables/fatal-occupati...