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Bruceton Research Center – protecting workers for 110 years
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November 2, 2021
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Series: NIOSH science blog
[PDF-425.12 KB]
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Alternative Title:Fifty years of NIOSH and thirty years of NIOSH in Alaska
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Description:The Bruceton Research Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has a long and storied history going back more than a century. Today, two NIOSH divisions conduct extensive research in this location – the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) and the NIOSH Pittsburgh Mining Research Division (PMRD). This site is also home to an office of the Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).
The roots of the Bruceton Research Center stretch back to the Organic Act of 1910, which was passed to improve the safety of mine workers and established the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM). In the years prior to the agency’s founding, a series of horrific mine explosions cost thousands of miners their lives. In 1911, the USBM leased 38 acres of land in Bruceton, Pennsylvania, and constructed an experimental mine that is still used by NIOSH researchers on site today. On October 30, 1911, the Bruceton site’s experimental mine hosted the first public test of a coal dust explosion in air and helped prove that coal dust could explode without the presence of methane gas. About 1,200 spectators came out to see the demonstration and tour the new facility.
During the early days of the USBM, the agency promoted several innovative technologies, including new developments in respiratory protection. They laid out some of the earliest federal guidance for respiratory equipment and started a respirator certification program. On January 15, 1920, the USBM certified its first respirator, the Gibbs breathing apparatus. This first respirator approval laid the foundation for the future work of NPPTL at the Bruceton Research Center. It was followed by the first particulate filtering respirator approval in 1934 and chemical cartridge respirator approval in 1944. Despite the lack of formal requirements to have these devices in the workplace, manufacturers voluntary submitted their products for approval. After World War I, the USBM took a step further and developed standards and testing methods.
In 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which created both NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). NIOSH was tasked with conducting research and training in worker health and safety, which it used to provide recommendations to OSHA and MSHA. The year 1972 saw respirator testing and approval functions move to a NIOSH laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Even with much of the respirator testing moving to West Virginia, respirator research and guidance development continued at the Bruceton Research Center. In 1981, regulations went into effect stating mine operators were required to provide self-contained self-rescuers (SCSRs) for each miner. And following the Wilberg fire, hands-on training on how to properly put on SCSRs was also required. USBM training research led to the 3 & 3 procedure for putting on a SCSR, which helped guide workers through the process of putting on a breathing unit properly.
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