Using Real-Time Respirable Dust Monitors to Address the Silica Health Hazard in Mining

Details

• Personal Author:
  Patts J
• Description:
  Mining operations, by their very nature, create a lot of dust, with varying percentages of silica content. Modern mining operators are well aware of the hazard created by respirable crystalline silica dust (RCS). Operators also need to recognize that silicosis is an irreversible occupational disease with terrible consequences including lung cancer, respiratory failure and tuberculosis. And there is no cure for silicosis - the only fix is to prevent the disease by limiting worker exposure. Based on the latest work-related lung disease surveillance report by the CDC, between 1990 and 1999, just over 20% of all total silica deaths occurred in the M/NM industry. And between 2000 and 2017, 12% of MSHA personal heath samples were greater than the MSHA PEL of 100 ug/m3 and 34% of those were greater than the OSHA PEL of 50 ug/m3. The benefit of real-time dust sensing lies in the ability to help the operator understand when certain exposures occurred. Pairing real-time sensing with Helmet-CAM technology, mine operators can also understand the specific tasks that led to those exposures. Further adding the use of an FTIR instrument and end-of-shift analysis can effectively yield silica estimation. All three of these approaches can be combined to estimate real-time silica concentrations. Importantly, to quantify worker exposure, there is no substitute for personal sampling. Complementary to personal sampling is area sampling, and when area sampling is conducted in real time then the dust levels present at mines in key areas can be quantified on a continuous, long-term basis. NIOSH has conducted many years of engineering control research and has published extensively on the topic. While the commonly used hierarchy of controls puts substitution as the best method for reducing worker exposures, often in mining the best controls are engineering-based, such as exhaust ventilation, dust capture systems, and total structure ventilation. Fueled by a growing global desire to understand indoor and outdoor air quality (most commonly combustion aerosols in the atmosphere), numerous "low-cost" particulate sensors have been developed and marketed to those interested in quantifying their local air quality. Further, studies have compared these sensors to research-grade federal environmental monitoring devices and, after some appropriate scaling factor is applied, the agreement can be quite good. NIOSH recently began a new research effort in the fall of 2019 which aims to evaluate the applicability of these sensors not to ambient aerosols, but to the perhaps more challenging role of measuring real-time mining dust levels. This work poses many challenges - larger and more varied dusts, higher dust concentrations, and harsh environments - but the potential to inexpensively quantify mining dust levels in real time is intriguing. If low-cost area dust sensing for mining becomes a reality, it's possible that plant operators could apply engineering controls more widely by justifying installations that would most efficiently reduce both area exposures and individual worker exposures, providing a significant health benefit. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Mining Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Dust Analysis Dust Measurement Dust Particles Dust Samplers Dust Sampling Metal Mining Mining Industry Monitoring Systems Monitors Morbidity Rates Mortality Rates Nonmetal Mining Particulate Dust Particulates Particulate Sampling Methods Respirable Dust Respiratory System Disorders Silica Silica Dusts

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0747-3605
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PMRD - Pittsburgh Mining Research Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  101-103
• Volume:
  123
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060501
• Citation:
  Rock Prod 2020 Jul; 123(7):101-103
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Rock Products
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bf7137f0824b21299131b806c8f6516a6cacec6fe1acaa57a0b1f881bcd3d5ef6c865377cff7cc1541b55abc5cf0cadf94ca23d118e25614bc1c2382a0f5ccca
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215315/cdc_215315_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.51 MB ]