It is.. Still dangerous, but not near to the level of 70's and earlier..
I built cribbing, and seal and stops.. My job was to route air flow thru the mine. The mine manager would deliver the plans for the air flow and I would drive back to the cross sections and build a big wall to block off parts of the mine that we had already mined, or that had proved not safe..
One time we were building cribbing and big boulders were falling from the ceiling, and it would echo for miles.. It was very scary..
We hired a couple young black guys, and that brother told me, take him to the elevator shaft, he had made a mistake. I said just finish the day brother. He siad no dude, take me the fuck out of here right now....
HA HA,,, and he wasnt bullshitting.. He was so scared his skin turned ashy white!
Only time I ever seen a brother in the coal mines lol..