Safety figures released by the New South Wales Minerals Council showed underground coal mines continued to record the majority of serious bodily injuries in the state’s entire mining industry.

The single fatality that occurred in the industry during the year was in an underground coal mine, according to key industry statistics.

The lost time injury frequency rate for underground coal was 11.31, compared with 2.03 for open cut coal in 2011.

The trend indicates that the open cut coal sector is having more success in addressing safety with last year’s figure being almost 50% higher at 3.13. This compares with the relatively flat performance of lost time injury improvement of underground coal mines at 11.85.

The report found there were 18 serious bodily injuries in underground coal mines – which constitute half of all the serious body injuries in the state – compared to 10 in open cut mines for the year.

“The safety of workers in our industry remains our number one priority,” the NSW Minerals Council said in the report. “The industry, unions and government regulators work closely through the Mine Safety Advisory Council, which in 2010-11 has continued to focus on building a world leading health and safety culture.”

Overall, the report noted there had been a decade long trend of decreasing lost time frequency injury rates in NSW, but that improvement had been most dramatic at open cut coal mines.