Black lung benefits

Details

• Personal Author:
  Handelsman L ; Morgan WKC ; Reger RB
• Description:
  On Sept 30, 1972, a new set of regulations for black lung benefits was published in the Federal Register. The regulations included some interim standards designed to facilitate the more rapid processing of black lung compensation claims. Since that time, the Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Diseases has repeatedly been asked by physicians in the field of industrial medicine and chest diseases what percentage of working miners are eligible to receive black lung benefits under the interim standards. At the present time and until 1973, a miner may qualify for black lung benefits if (1) his chest roentgenogram shows evidence of pneumoconiosis - either simple or complicated; (2) he has worked for 15 years in a coal mine and has sufficient ventilatory impairment to meet the criteria shown in the table published on page 20646 of the Federal Register; and (3) he has certain other respiratory impairments, such as a reduced diffusing capacity, and arterial desaturation. In 1969, the Public Health Service commenced a large epidemiological study of the respiratory status of working coal miners in the United States. Nine thousand seventy-six miners from 31 mines in ten states were examined. It is believed that these are a fairly representative sample of the US miners as a whole. Of this sample, 29.9% could qualify for black lung benefits on the basis of roentgenographic evidence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, while 8.8% could qualify on the basis of a reduced ventilatory capacity. We do not have the necessary physiological measurements to allow us to say how many would meet the criteria mentioned in the third condition. Since there is some overlap, i.e., some coal miners could qualify by means of the criteria mentioned in either conditions 1 or 2, the total number presently eligible is 34.9%. However, if only miners over the age of 50 are considered, the percentage eligible rises to 55.3%, of which 35.3% qualify on the basis of an abnormal roentgenogram, 10.2% qualify on the basis of a reduced ventilatory capacity in the presence of a roentgenogram showing no evidence of pneumoconiosis, and 9.8% qualify on both counts. Were the same standards for ventilatory capacity applied to a similar nonmining population over the age of 50, 25.3% would be eligible on this basis. Thus, a total of 20.0% of working miners over the age of 50 have sufficient ventilatory impairment to meet the interim standards, while the comparable figure for a roughly similar nonmining population is 25.3%. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Lung Lung Diseases Mining Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Black Lung Disease Black Lung Disease Benefits Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Benefits Lung Disease Lung Disorders Respiratory System Disorders
• ISSN:
  0098-7484
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  ALFORD - Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Disease
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  223
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049304
• Citation:
  JAMA 1973 Feb; 223(8):922
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1973
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the American Medical Association
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:02a961fe52f86d9ec1f4d1eff3f130753fcc8f50eecfe5cc45c0d41c9d5b529aab5e06f118bc439dd025e62b1a81cb58336accad79d501e83a8b8439f075f08e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203778/cdc_203778_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 188.50 KB ]