This BBC backgrounder talks about the safety of the U.S. coal industry, but the eyeopening figure in it is the number of Chinese mineworker deaths per year -- 8,000 -- versus 30 in the U.S.

Here's the backgrounder in the context of the Sago disaster, and here are two on the China situation:

China acts on mine safety lapses (Dec. 23/05)

Life cheap in China's mines (Nov. 28/04)