Rose Park Coal Mine Tragedy

Rose Park Mine Disaster

1903 – Collapsed Mine Still Stands as one of America’s worst historical tragedies

In the United States a group of miners lost their lives at work, in coal mining. The testimonial describes the scene as the worst situation in human being could get into: he could barely breathe. Pitch dark, he wasn’t able to see his own hands, and the temperature from freezing cold to extreme heat.

The U.S Bureau of Mines was created in 1910 to investigate accidents, advise industry, conduct production and safety research and teach courses in accident prevention, first aid, and mine rescue. The Federal Commission on Health and Safety Acts of 1969 and 1977 set further safety standards for the industry. Where annual accidents had numbered more than 1,000 a year in the early part of the 20th century, they decreased to an average of 500 in the late 1950s and to 93 during the 1990s.