Evaluation of Dust Exposures Associated with Mist Drilling Technology for Roof Bolters

Details

• Journal Article:
  Mining Engineering
• Personal Author:
  Beck, Timothy W. ; Goodman, Gerrit V. R.
• Description:
  Overexposure to respirable dust remains a widespread health hazard to roof bolter occupations in underground coal mines. Recently implemented mist drilling technology was evaluated for its effectiveness in controlling respirable dust exposures for roof bolting personnel. This work presents the findings from NIOSH field and laboratory studies comparing respirable dust levels on mist drilling roof bolter machines to dust levels measured on machines using a conventional vacuum drilling system. Gravimetric and instantaneous respirable dust samples were collected for multiple drilling cycles. These dust measurements were used to assess the potential dust control capabilities relative to conventional drilling. Controlled laboratory tests found 0.3 mg/m3 more respirable dust with mist drilling than with the conventional vacuum method. A separate field investigation of the two techniques observed higher dust levels around the mist bolting machine. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Engineering Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Mining-industry; Mining-equipment; Respirable-dust; Coal-mining; Underground-mining; Underground-miners; Miners; Mine-workers; Engineering-controls; Control-technology; Dust-control; Dust-control-equipment; Dust-exposure; Dust-suppression; Dusts
• Source:
  Min Eng 2008 Dec; 60(12):35-39
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0026-5187
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Volume:
  60
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034794
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:31515e4c17f24d00e41cf9fc191bc11180378563828ab87cb12a472e2a1d8fe53749a0175ccabf580f007a4a38e7c76567dd9a6592f066fb35119bffe4d980a6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/161282/cdc_161282_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 270.31 KB ]