{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T10:27:57Z","timestamp":1786530477499,"version":"build-2736575974"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2011]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":44,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Although the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has always advocated strongly for miners\u2019 safety, prior empirical literature contains no evidence that unionization reduced mine injuries or fatalities during the 1970s and \u201880s. This study uses a more comprehensive dataset and updated methodology to examine the relationship between unionization and underground, bituminous coal mine safety from 1993 to 2010. I find that unionization predicts a substantial and significant decline in traumatic injuries and fatalities, the two measures that I argue are the least prone to reporting bias. These disparities are especially pronounced among larger mines. My best estimates imply that overall, unionization is associated with a 13-30% drop in traumatic injuries and a 28-83% drop in fatalities. Yet unionization also predicts higher total and non-traumatic injuries, suggesting that injury reporting practices differ between union and nonunion mines.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.1846700","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,1,5]],"date-time":"2012-01-05T11:23:12Z","timestamp":1325762592000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Coal Mine Safety: Do Unions Make a Difference?"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"given":"Alison D.","family":"Morantz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"78","reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1007\/bf02685253","article-title":"The Effect of Unionization on Safety in Bituminous Deep Mines","volume":"4","author":"William C Appleton","year":"1984","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"issue":"9","key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1421","DOI":"10.2105\/ajph.92.9.1421","article-title":"Occupational Injury and Illness Surveillance: Conceptual Filters Explain Underreporting","volume":"92","author":"Lenore S Azaroff","year":"2002","journal-title":"American Journal of Public Health"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02685165","article-title":"Unions and Coal Mine Safety: Comment [The Effect of Unionization on Safety in Bituminous Deep Mines","volume":"6","author":"James D Bennett","year":"1985","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"issue":"1","key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"97","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-232x.2008.00547.x","volume":"48","author":"William M Boal","year":"2009","journal-title":"The Effect of Unionization on Accidents in U.S. Coal Mining"},{"key":"ref5","author":"Leslie Boden","year":"1977","journal-title":"Underground Coal Mining Accidents and Government Enforcement of Safety Regulations"},{"issue":"1","key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.2307\/825851","article-title":"Unions, Markets, and Other Regulatory Mechanisms: Theory and Evidence","volume":"44","author":"Richard Brown","year":"1995","journal-title":"University of Toronto Law Journal"},{"issue":"4","key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"580","DOI":"10.2307\/1935926","article-title":"Workers' Compensation: Benefit and Injury Claims Rates in the Seventies","volume":"65","author":"Richard J Butler","year":"1983","journal-title":"The Review of Economics and Statistics"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/cbo9780511814365","author":"Adrian Cameron","year":"1998","journal-title":"Regression Analysis of Count Data"},{"key":"ref9","article-title":"Accident Control through Regulation: the 1969 Coal Mine Health and Safety Act Experience","author":"Marguerite M Connerton","year":"1978","journal-title":"Diss"},{"key":"ref10","author":"Joel Darmstadter","year":"1997","journal-title":"Resources for the Future Discussion Paper No. 97-40"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/00043764-199011000-00009","article-title":"Safety Performance among Union and Nonunion Workers in the Construction Industry","volume":"32","author":"Nicole Dedobbeleer","year":"1990","journal-title":"Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medecine"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"265","DOI":"10.1111\/0019-8676.00166","article-title":"The effectiveness of health and safety committees: Results of a survey of public-sector workplaces","volume":"39","author":"A Eaton","year":"2000","journal-title":"Industrial Relations"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.2307\/3117143","article-title":"From Exit to Voice in Shopfloor Governance: The Case of Company Unions","volume":"69","author":"David Fairris","year":"1995","journal-title":"Business History Review"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"461","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8543.2004.00325.x","article-title":"Workplace Risk, Establishment Size and Union Density","volume":"42","author":"Paul Fenn","year":"2004","journal-title":"British Journal of Industrial Relations"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"269","DOI":"10.1016\/0014-4983(86)90006-9","article-title":"Workplace Safety During the Progressive Era: Fatal Accidents in Bituminous Coal Mining, 1912-1923","volume":"23","author":"Price V Fishback","year":"1986","journal-title":"Explorations in Economic History"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1086\/467832","article-title":"Liability Rules and Accident Prevention in the Workplace: Empirical Evidence from the Early Twentieth Century","volume":"16","author":"Price V Fishback","year":"1987","journal-title":"The Journal of Legal Studies"},{"key":"ref17","first-page":"1890","author":"Fox","year":"1990","journal-title":"United We Stand: The United Mine Workers of America"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref18","first-page":"367","article-title":"Worker Representation on Health and Safety in Small Enterprises: Lessons from a Swedish Approach","volume":"137","author":"Kaj Frick","year":"1998","journal-title":"International Labour Review"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9930.1993.tb00104.x","article-title":"Business responses to the regulation of health and safety in England","volume":"15","author":"Hazel Genn","year":"1993","journal-title":"Law and Policy"},{"key":"ref20","author":"Stephen Havlovic","year":"1997","journal-title":"The Effectiveness of Joint Health and Safety Committees and Safety Training in Reducing Fatalities and Injuries in British Columbia Forest Product Mills"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.2307\/2523828","article-title":"The Attitudes of Union and Nonunion Male Workers Towards Union Representation","volume":"38","author":"Stephen Hills","year":"1985","journal-title":"Industrial and Labor Relations Review"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"665","DOI":"10.2307\/1057983","article-title":"Union Membership Determination and Industry Characteristics","volume":"50","author":"Barry T Hirsch","year":"1984","journal-title":"Southern Economic Journal"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.2307\/2525083","article-title":"Workers' Compensation Recipiency in Union and Nonunion Workplaces","volume":"50","author":"Barry T Hirsch","year":"1997","journal-title":"Industrial and Labor Relations Review"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1093\/pan\/mpl013","article-title":"Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference","volume":"15","author":"Daniel E Ho","year":"2007","journal-title":"Political Analysis"},{"issue":"4","key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1002\/(sici)1097-0274(199610)30:4<479::aid-ajim14>3.0.co;2-1","article-title":"Age-Related Accident Risks: Longitudinal Study of Swedish Iron Ore Miners","volume":"30","author":"Lucie Laflamme","year":"1996","journal-title":"American Journal of Industrial Medicine"},{"issue":"3","key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"349","DOI":"10.1007\/bf02685194","article-title":"Are Unionized Blue Collar Jobs More Hazardous Than Nonunionized Blue Collar Jobs?","volume":"3","author":"J Leigh","year":"1982","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"key":"ref27","first-page":"130","article-title":"The Elusive Union Safety Effect: Towards a New Empirical Research Agenda","author":"Alison Morantz","year":"2009","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 61 st Annual Meeting of the Labor and Employment Relations Association"},{"issue":"13","key":"ref28","first-page":"697","article-title":"Does Unionization Strengthen Regulatory Enforcement","volume":"14","author":"Alison Morantz","year":"2012","journal-title":"N.Y.U. Journal of Legislation and Public Policy"},{"issue":"1","key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1002\/ajim.10234","article-title":"The Relationship of Unions to Prevalence and Claim Filing for Work-Related Upper-Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders","volume":"44","author":"Tim Morse","year":"2003","journal-title":"American Journal of Industrial Medicine"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","year":"1982","journal-title":"Toward Safer Underground Coal Mines","DOI":"10.17226\/19565"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1177\/0022185607074919","article-title":"Trade unions, institutional mediation and industrial safety: evidence from the UK","volume":"49","author":"Theo Nichols","year":"2007","journal-title":"Journal of Industrial Relations"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1007\/s12398-011-0051-3","article-title":"The Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Global Seaborne Hard Coal Market: Are there Implications for the Future?","volume":"35","author":"Radenmacherm Maggi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Zeitschrift f\ufffdr Energiewirtschaft"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1007\/bf02685843","article-title":"The Effect of the United Mine Workers of America on the Probability of Severe Injury in Underground Coal Mines","volume":"17","author":"Jack Reardon","year":"1996","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"275","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8543.1995.tb00435.x","article-title":"Unions, Safety Committees and Workplace Injuries","volume":"33","author":"Barry Reilly","year":"1995","journal-title":"British Journal of Industrial Relations"},{"issue":"4","key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.2307\/2555508","article-title":"Workers' Compensation Insurance, Experience-Rating, and Occupational Injuries","volume":"16","author":"John W Ruser","year":"1985","journal-title":"Rand Journal of Economics"},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsr.2004.08.005","author":"Simo Salminen","year":"2004","journal-title":"Have Young Workers More Injuries than Older Ones? An International 20"},{"issue":"5","key":"ref37","first-page":"513","article-title":"Literature Review","volume":"35","journal-title":"Journal of Safety Research"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/oemed-2013-101827","author":"Kerry Souza","year":"2009","journal-title":"Individual and Plant Level Predictors of Acute, Traumatic Occupational Injury in a Manufacturing Cohort"},{"key":"ref39","author":"Elmer B Staats","year":"1981","journal-title":"Low Productivity in American Coal Mining: Causes and Cures"},{"issue":"2","key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1007\/bf02685164","article-title":"The Effect of Unionization on Safety in Bituminous Deep Mines: Comment","volume":"6","author":"James L Weeks","year":"1985","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"key":"ref41","author":"David Weil","year":"1987","journal-title":"Government and Labor at the Workplace: The Role of Labor Unions in the Implementation of Federal Health and Safety Policy"},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-232x.1991.tb00773.x","article-title":"Enforcing OSHA: The Role of Labor Unions","volume":"30","author":"David Weil","year":"1991","journal-title":"Industrial Relations"},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1007\/bf02685455","article-title":"Building Safety: The Role of Construction Unions in the Enforcement of OSHA","volume":"13","author":"David Weil","year":"1992","journal-title":"Journal of Labor Research"},{"key":"ref44","author":"David Weil","year":"1994","journal-title":"Turning the Tide: Strategic Planning for Labor Unions"}],"container-title":[],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T09:31:38Z","timestamp":1786527098000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ssrn.com\/abstract=1846700"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2011]]},"references-count":44,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.1846700","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2011]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}