Ambient temperature and occupational injury risk in US surface mining: A nationwide case-crossover analysis (2005-2025).

Occupational injury risk in US surface mining increases modestly at high temperatures, with a 9% rise at the 95th heat percentile (35.0°C).

• Why it matters: Understanding how temperature affects injury risk is crucial for developing effective safety standards and prevention strategies in the mining industry, especially as climate patterns change.
• What they did: A nationwide case-crossover analysis of 106,838 injuries from 9,833 mines used distributed-lag nonlinear models to examine the temperature-injury relationship over lags 0-7 days, adjusting for dewpoint, precipitation, and holidays.
• The result: Findings show a significant association between high temperatures and injury risk, while cold-day effects are subgroup-specific, with falls exhibiting a notably increased risk (RR 2.22 at cold days), informing targeted occupational safety measures.

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