Snapshot of deaths per terawatt hour with recent reports on deaths from coal, oil and natural gas

This site has covered deaths per terawatt hour per energy source.

Energy Source              Death Rate (deaths per TWh)

Coal – world average               161 (26% of world energy, 50% of electricity)
Coal – China                       278
Coal – USA                         15
Oil                                36  (36% of world energy)
Natural Gas                         4  (21% of world energy)
Biofuel/Biomass                    12
Peat                               12
Solar (rooftop)                     0.44 (less than 0.1% of world energy)
Wind                                0.15 (less than 1% of world energy)
Hydro                               0.10 (europe death rate, 2.2% of world energy)
Hydro - world including Banqiao)    1.4 (about 2500 TWh/yr and 171,000 Banqiao dead)
Nuclear                             0.04 (5.9% of world energy)

1. China reports that 1,419 coal miners were killed in the first nine months of the year, 27.6 percent fewer than the same period last year. The number of deadly accidents fell 18.7 percent to 892 during the same period.

2. Two workers at a surface coal mine in Centertown, Kentucky died on Friday when a portion of the mine face collapsed on their truck.

3. A coal mining accident earlier in October in Guizhou has killed 17 to date.

4. More workers were killed on drilling rigs than anywhere else in Wyoming’s oil and gas industry between 2001 and 2008. Thirty-two workers were killed on oil rigs between 2001 and 2008, according to federal incident-level data obtained by Ryan earlier this year. That’s more than half of the 62 fatalities in the oil and gas industry during that period, the most recent federal data available.

Nearly all of the rig deaths were caused by hit or crush injuries, entanglements and falls.

Transportation fatalities were the second-most common reason, with 25 deaths during the eight-year period. Fatigue was cited in three out of four transportation fatalities. Three out of four of those killed weren’t wearing their seat belts.

Wyoming produced 53,400,000 barrels of crude oil in 2007. The state ranked 5th nationwide in oil production in 2007

5. The Allegheny County Health Department (in Pennsylvania) considers Oct. 1 through May 31 as heating season. During that period last year, it logged 33 cases of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. From Oct. 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010, three deaths occurred among the 31 cases reported, Cole said.

Medics checked eight people for possible carbon monoxide poisoning in Castle Shannon on Thursday but took no one to the hospital, an emergency dispatcher said.

Homeowners should schedule yearly furnace inspections and cleanings and should buy carbon monoxide detectors, Cole said. Water heaters, gas stoves, fireplaces can be other sources for carbon monoxide buildup, Cole said.

So one county for one year, three deaths related to natural gas devices and pipes.