Federal No. 2 Mine reported an accident rate of 3.80, which was 62% better than the 2002 national average for underground coal mines. Federal No. 2 Mine has approximately 460 employees and annually ships approximately 5 million tons of steam and metallurgical coal.
Big Sky Mine reported a perfect record of 0.00 incidents - a year with no accidents requiring medical attention or lost work time. This compares to the 2002 national average for surface coal mines of 3.14 incidents per 200,000 hours worked. The mine has consistently achieved outstanding safety performance and has completed more than seven years without a lost-time accident.
"Safety is the number one priority at our operations," said David A. Beerbower, Peabody's vice president of safety. "Our ultimate goal is zero accidents, which we achieved at two of our locations."
Peabody's Safety - A Way of Life program emphasizes making safety a personal goal throughout all aspects of daily life, both at work and at home. Since 1990, Peabody's accident rate has improved 66% while productivity has nearly tripled.
Peabody’s other underground mines, all based in West Virginia, recorded the following accident rates: Lightfoot No. 2 - 6.38, Harris No. 1 - 6.53, Big Mountain No. 16 - 8.36.
