[PDF] Monitoring And Sampling Approaches To Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures eBook

Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 25,64 MB
Release : 2018-10-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309476011

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Coal remains one of the principal sources of energy for the United States, and the nation has been a world leader in coal production for more than 100 years. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration projections to 2050, coal is expected to be an important energy resource for the United States. Additionally, metallurgical coal used in steel production remains an important national commodity. However, coal production, like all other conventional mining activities, creates dust in the workplace. Respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) comprises the size fraction of airborne particles in underground mines that can be inhaled by miners and deposited in the distal airways and gas-exchange region of the lung. Occupational exposure to RCMD has long been associated with lung diseases common to the coal mining industry, including coal workers' pneumoconiosis, also known as "black lung disease." Monitoring and Sampling Approaches to Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures compares the monitoring technologies and sampling protocols currently used or required by the United States, and in similarly industrialized countries for the control of RCMD exposure in underground coal mines. This report assesses the effects of rock dust mixtures and their application on RCMD measurements, and the efficacy of current monitoring technologies and sampling approaches. It also offers science-based conclusions regarding optimal monitoring and sampling strategies to aid mine operators' decision making related to reducing RCMD exposure to miners in underground coal mines.

Author : Barbara Ellen Smith
Publisher : Haymarket Books
Page : 323 pages
File Size : 26,99 MB
Release : 2020-10-06
Category : History
ISBN : 1642593931

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Employment and production in the Appalachian coal industry have plummeted over recent decades. But the lethal black lung disease, once thought to be near-eliminated, affects miners at rates never before recorded. Digging Our Own Graves sets this epidemic in the context of the brutal assault, begun in the 1980s and continued since, on the United Mine Workers of America and the collective power of rank-and-file coal miners in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields. This destruction of militancy and working class power reveals the unacknowledged social and political roots of a health crisis that is still barely acknowledged by the state and coal industry. Barbara Ellen Smith’s essential study, now with an updated introduction and conclusion, charts the struggles of miners and their families from the birth of the Black Lung Movement in 1968 to the present-day importance of demands for environmental justice through proposals like the Green New Deal. Through extensive interviews with participants and her own experiences as an activist, the author provides a vivid portrait of communities struggling for survival against the corporate extraction of labor, mineral wealth, and the very breath of those it sends to dig their own graves.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 183 pages
File Size : 20,67 MB
Release : 2007-12-21
Category : Science
ISBN : 030911022X

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Coal will continue to provide a major portion of energy requirements in the United States for at least the next several decades. It is imperative that accurate information describing the amount, location, and quality of the coal resources and reserves be available to fulfill energy needs. It is also important that the United States extract its coal resources efficiently, safely, and in an environmentally responsible manner. A renewed focus on federal support for coal-related research, coordinated across agencies and with the active participation of the states and industrial sector, is a critical element for each of these requirements. Coal focuses on the research and development needs and priorities in the areas of coal resource and reserve assessments, coal mining and processing, transportation of coal and coal products, and coal utilization.

Author : Andrew B. Andrew B. Cecala
Publisher : CreateSpace
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 12,52 MB
Release : 2015-05-09
Category :
ISBN : 9781511722186

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Throughout the mining and processing of minerals, the mined ore undergoes a number of crushing, grinding, cleaning, drying, and product sizing operations as it is processed into a marketable commodity. These operations are highly mechanized, and both individually and collectively these processes can generate large amounts of dust. If control technologies are inadequate, hazardous levels of respirable dust may be liberated into the work environment, potentially exposing workers. Accordingly, federal regulations are in place to limit the respirable dust exposure of mine workers. Engineering controls are implemented in mining operations in an effort to reduce dust generation and limit worker exposure.

Author : Jay Colinet
Publisher : Createspace Independent Pub
Page : 84 pages
File Size : 13,45 MB
Release : 2010
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 9781493568659

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"Respirable dust exposure has long been known to be a serious health threat to workers in many industries. In coal mining, overexposure to respirable coal mine dust can lead to coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP). CWP is a lung disease that can be disabling and fatal in its most severe form. In addition, miners can be exposed to high levels of respirable silica dust, which can cause silicosis, another disabling and/or fatal lung disease. Once contracted, there is no cure for CWP or silicosis. The goal, therefore, is to limit worker exposure to respirable dust to prevent development of these diseases. The passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 established respirable dust exposure limits, dust sampling requirements for inspectors and mine operators, a voluntary x-ray surveillance program to identify CWP in underground coal miners, and a benefits program to provide compensation to affected workers and their families. The tremendous human and financial costs resulting from CWP and silicosis in the U.S. underground coal mine workforce are shown by the following statistics: 1. During 1970-2004, CWP was a direct or contributing cause of 69,377 deaths of U.S. underground coal mine workers. 2. During 1980-2005, over $39 billion in CWP benefits were paid to underground coal miners and their families. 3. Recent x-ray surveillance data for 2000-2006 show an increase in CWP cases. Nearly 8% of examined underground coal miners with 25 or more years of experience were diagnosed with CWP. 4. "Continuous miner operator" is the most frequently listed occupation on death certificates that record silicosis as the cause of death. In light of the ongoing severity of these lung diseases in coal mining, this handbook was developed to identify available engineering controls that can help the industry reduce worker exposure to respirable coal and silica dust. The controls discussed in this handbook range from long-utilized controls that have developed into industry standards to newer controls that are still being optimized. The intent was to identify the best practices that are available to control respirable dust levels in underground and surface coal mining operations. This handbook provides general information on the control technologies along with extensive references. In some cases, the full reference(s) will need to be consulted to gain in-depth information on the testing or implementation of the control of interest. The handbook is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the health effects of exposure to respirable coal and silica dust. Chapter 2 discusses dust sampling instruments and sampling methods. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 focus on dust control technologies for longwall mining, continuous mining, and surface mining, respectively. Finally, it must be stressed that after control technologies are implemented, the ultimate success of ongoing protection for workers depends on continued maintenance of these controls. NIOSH researchers have often seen appropriate controls installed, but worker overexposures occurred because of the lack of proper maintenance of these controls." - NIOSHTIC-2

Author : Patrick Fitzhugh
Publisher : Nova Science Publishers
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 30,99 MB
Release : 2013
Category : Coal dust
ISBN : 9781624170973

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Book & CD. Coal mine dust is one of the most serious occupational hazards in the coal mining industry, and overexposure can cause coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and a number of other lung diseases, collectively referred to a black lung disease. CWP has been the underlying or contributing cause of death for more than 75,000 coal miners since 1968. This book provides an overview of key studies, background history and health reviews on occupational exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

Author :
Publisher :
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 25,4 MB
Release : 1984
Category : Coal mines and mining
ISBN :

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Purpose of symposium: "To provide an open forum for labor, government, and other interested parties to exchange information on the control of respirable coal mine dust and to identify current problems and possible solutions."

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 102 pages
File Size : 14,9 MB
Release : 2002-03-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 0309169836

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The Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) of the U. S. Department of Energy commissioned the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake a study on required technologies for the Mining Industries of the Future Program to complement information provided to the program by the National Mining Association. Subsequently, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also became a sponsor of this study, and the Statement of Task was expanded to include health and safety. The overall objectives of this study are: (a) to review available information on the U.S. mining industry; (b) to identify critical research and development needs related to the exploration, mining, and processing of coal, minerals, and metals; and (c) to examine the federal contribution to research and development in mining processes.

Author :
Publisher : International Labor Office
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 21,86 MB
Release : 2009
Category : Medical
ISBN :

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This code of practice on safety and health in underground coalmines reflects the many changes in the industry and its workforce, as well as new developments in occupational safety and health policies and ILO instruments on occupational safety and health. A leaner, multi-skilled workforce, new technology and less prescriptive, more systems-oriented approach to addressing safety and health are also reflected in this code. The code sets out a national framework that specifies the roles of the competent authorities, employers, workers and their organizations. It also comprises a methodology for identifying hazards, preventing and minimizing risks, as well as specific provisions for safe underground coalmining operations.These specific provisions address most of the currently identified hazards and risks associated with underground coalmining. When used in conjunction with the code's methodology for hazard identification, risk assessment and control process, these provisions represent current best practice. As the same time, the code is drafted in a way not to inhibit the development of new technologies, better practice or the adoption of alternative measures that provide effective protection to all persons involved in underground coalmining.