Arch’s Coal Creek operation met its milestone of 1 million continuous man hours without a single reportable safety incident on August 7. The performance stacks up well against a national coal industry average of 3.52 incidents per 200,000 employee-hours.

Coal Creek also finished first and Thunder Basin’s Black Thunder mine rescue crew finished second at the 33rd annual International Surface Mine Rescue Competition held earlier this month in Gillette.

“These exceptional results reflect the strong dedication of Thunder Basin's employees to working safely," senior vice president of operations Kenneth Cochran said.

"We're especially proud of the members of our world-class rescue teams, like those at Thunder Basin, who voluntarily train year-round."

Both Black Thunder and Coal Creek are in Campbell County, Wyoming, in the southern Powder River Basin.

Coal Creek mine earned the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute's Safety Award for exceptional safety performance in both 2011 and 2012 among surface mines in its size category.

The achievements are another medal in the hand of Arch Coal as well, as officials said it maintained its leading position in the nation’s coal industry for safety performance for last year, its seventh straight year.

Overall, Arch's 2012 lost-time safety rate was one-third the national average.