The NMA said a safety focus, including its CORESafety initiative, played a role in the milestone.

NMA president and chief executive officer Hal Quinn said the record was a testament to the commitment and persistent efforts by mines and operators to create the world’s safest mining industry.

“We have more to do to achieve our goal of eliminating fatalities and reducing the rate of mining-related injuries by 50% in five years, but industry performance in 2012 shows we're on our way,” he said.

MSHA said earlier this month, after reviewing and certifying data, that 2012 was officially the safest in history for US mines.

Quinn said one factor to that success was the industry’s focus on driving safety improvement through the adoption of safety management systems and new technologies including the CORESafety program.

“NMA is very encouraged to see mining companies in the US adapting CORESafety to fit their own circumstances,” he said.

CORESafety was developed by NMA and is overseen by a CEO-level task force.

The initiative has been designed to complement existing safety efforts in mines, with an emphasis on accident prevention.