In 2008 the number of miners killed on the job in the U.S. fell to 51, the lowest level since officials started keeping count nearly a century ago.
Kentucky saw an increase.
We talk to local coal and safety leaders about what the numbers mean.

Kentucky mining deaths jumped from two in 2007 to eight last year, but coal officials describe most of the deaths as freak accidents and say only one was underground. They say long-term statistics showing a decline are a better measure of safety trends.

TECO Coal Director of Safety and Environmenal Affairs Dave Blankenship says, "Over the past three decades it's been absolutely astounding."

MSHA credits new and improved safety laws and stricter enforcement for the overall drop in deaths, saying 2008 was the first year the agency completed all required inspections. Budget cuts will prevent Kentucky from doubling the number of state inspections, but the state's coal association president says more inspections do not equal more safety - they would only duplicate a federal program. He says to bring safety to the next level, there needs to be more focus on behavior modification.

Bill Caylor says, "Where you can have a job safety analyst or a person that can sit and observe a miner during his work and try to teach him how to do things safer."

Blankenship says, "We concentrate on changing the behaviors of people because the accidents that happen today are those behavioral things that people do."

They say that is key to bringing the number of tragedies on the job, to zero.

Caylor also says inspectors should spend more time in mines with a history of violations than those with a safe record, and concentrate inspections where the actual mining is being done.