Purpose.To study the main elements of mining safety, as well as to formulate the definition of the concept of mining safety for its use in legal regulations of mining relations from the viewpoint of scientific literature and the norms of current legislation. Methodology.The results were obtained after applying a set of methods: a) general philosophical methods (dialectical, anthropological);b) general scientific methods (abstraction, analysis and synthesis, system analysis, classification);c) legal methods (historical and legal, comparative legal, semantic and legal). Findings.Based on the analysis of the main categories of general security theory and their application in the legislation of Ukraine, the etymology of the legal term security is studied and it is shown that the definition of this concept depends on the context of the normative legal act in which it is used. This necessitates the improvement of the conceptual apparatus of mining legislation and the development of the category mining safety. It is argued that unification of this legal category and clarification of its authentic definition will contribute to the achievement of unity and consistency of the current mining legislation, the proper regulation of public relations to ensure protection of Ukraines national interests in the field of subsoil use. The necessity of expanding the list of possible hazards of geological study and subsoil use provided for by the current legislation was substantiated. It is proposed to consolidate the authors definition of mining safety in the corresponding paragraph of Article 1 of the Mining Law of Ukraine. Originality.As a result of lexical and legal analysis, it was concluded that the definition of security depending on the context of the legal act in which it is used and the characteristics of the subject of legal regulation of certain social relations is defined as: security; security status; provision (regulatory compliance); set of measures; aggregate of nonuniform resources. Taking into account the geospheric characteristics of subsoil, as well as the peculiarities of hazard occurrence and manifestation during subsoil use, the authors put forward a classification of hazards manifestation during mining operations (geomorphological, lithospheric, geodynamic, gas-dynamic, hydrodynamic, geopathogenic, microbiological hazards, as well as the hazards of mineral nanoparticles). The additions are substantiated to the current legislation (part 1 of Article 1 of the Mining Law of Ukraine) with the following definition of the safety of mining operations: protection of vital interests of a person, society and the state from negative manifestations of geomorphological, lithospheric, geodynamic, gas-dynamic, hydrodynamic, geopathogenic, microbiological and other factors in the course of processes aimed at carrying out, securing and maintaining mine workings and withdrawing mining rocks. Practical value.The practical significance of the results is based on the fact that they can be used by the subjects of legislative initiative when improving the provisions of the current legislation of Ukraine, as well as by practical workers to organize and conduct mining operations.