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. 2025 Sep 1;25(1):3004.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-24163-4.

Are mortality rates similar between jobs in the Queensland coal mine workers' cohort?

Deborah Catherine Glass  1 , Stella May Gwini  2 , Anthony Del Monaco  2 , Lin Fritschi  3 , Michael J Abramson  2 , Malcolm Ross Sim  2 , Karen Walker-Bone  2
Affiliations

Are mortality rates similar between jobs in the Queensland coal mine workers' cohort?

Deborah Catherine Glass et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Coal mine workers are exposed to many occupational hazards which may affect mortality including respirable coal mine dust, crystalline silica and diesel engine emissions. Several studies have shown decreased overall mortality, but studies did not define the jobs held, did not include women coal mine workers and lacked smoking data.

Methods: A cohort of coal mine workers, from Queensland, Australia, was linked to the national death registry. Those who had had a health assessment after 1993 were grouped by job title into eight Work Categories. Mortality by Work Categories were compared to the Australian population to produce standardised mortality ratios (SMRs). Relative mortality ratios (RMR) by sex were calculated comparing risks within the cohort, adjusted for age, era (calendar period) and smoking.

Results: There were 4,555 deaths among 161,534 men and 196 among 23,967 women with job titles. The median age at inception was 33 (men) and 30 (women) years. SMRs were significantly reduced for men and women. However, compared with other men in the cohort, increased mortality was found from digestive diseases (Maintenance workers and Truck Drivers), respiratory diseases (Construction and Labourers) and accidents (Production, Labourers and Truck Drivers). Circulatory disease mortality was increased for male Production workers adjusted RMR (aRMR) 1.22(95%CI 1.06-1.40), Unexposed Non-Office aRMR 1.64(95%CI 1.15-2.35) and Labourers aRMR 1.48 95%CI (1.00-2.17) and Truck Drivers aRMR 1.21(95%CI 0.95-1.54), while accidental deaths were higher in female cleaners aRMR 3.13(95%CI 1.30-7.57). The suicide rate was higher for men and women in Production jobs.

Conclusions: Although a relatively young cohort, mortality risk varied by type of work. Risk of death from circulatory causes was increased in some workers, even after adjusting for smoking. Suicide rates are higher for men and women doing Production jobs.

Keywords: Coal mine workers; Mortality; Production; Smoking.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The study was granted ethics approval including a waiver of individual consent by the Human Research Ethics Committees of Monash University (Study number 22729) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Consent for publication: Not applicable. No individuals are identifiable in this paper. Competing interests: MJA holds investigator initiated grants from Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi for unrelated research. He has also conducted an unrelated consultancy for Sanofi and received a speaker’s fee from GSK.There are no competing interests for any other author.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cohort Structure showing number of coal mine workers and flow of data and exclusions (Individuals may have been excluded for more than one reason)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Summary of standardised mortality ratios for all causes of death combined, by sex and Work Category; comparison with the general Australian population rates. The Labourer, Cleaner, Supervisor and Truck Driver groups refer those in the Unclear Work Category [Note that no estimates are provided for women in the Exploration Driller, Construction, Labourer, Supervisor or Truck driver groups because of small numbers]
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Summary of standardised mortality ratios for selected causes of death (ICD10 codes included) among male coal mine workers by whether they were ever in the selected Work Categories. The Labourer, Supervisor and Truck Driver groups refer those in the Unclear Work Category. [Exploration Drillers and Cleaners omitted because of the small number of deaths], comparison with the general Australian population rates
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Summary of relative mortality ratios (adjusted for era, age and smoking status) for selected causes of death (ICD-10 codes included) among male coal mine workers by whether they were ever in the selected Work Categories. The Labourer, Supervisor and Truck Driver groups refer those in the Unclear Work Category. [Exploration Drillers and Cleaners omitted because of the small number of deaths] compared to all other categories
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