Assessment of Respirable Quartz Dust Exposures at Roof Bolters in Underground Coal Mining

Details

• Personal Author:
  Goodman, Gerrit V. R. ; Organiscak, John A.
• Description:
  Roof bolter occupations in underground coal mines have long been susceptible to overexposures to respirable quartz. Data gathered from a series of underground studies showed that high exposures to respirable quartz dust arose from infrequent maintenance of the vacuum dust collection system and operation of the roof bolter downwind of the continuous mining machine. Data boxes and filters were not routinely cleaned, which allowed dust to accumulate and eventually bypass the final filters. This not only increased dust levels around the roof bolter, but contaminated the intake airway of the continuous mining machine working downwind. High quartz dust levels in the intake airway of the roof bolter were measured when working downwind of the mining machine. Dust from the mining process flowed downwind and increased respirable quartz dust levels in the intake of the roof bolter. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Mining Occupational Health Quartz Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Coal-miners Coal-mining Dust-collection Dust-collectors Dust-exposure Dust-samplers Dust-sampling Dusts Filters Mine-workers Quartz-dust Respirable-dust Samplers Sampling Underground-miners Underground-mining

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0368-3206
• Publisher:
  Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa
• 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:
  50-54
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20024689
• Citation:
  J Mine Vent Soc S Afr 2003 Apr/Jun; 56(2):50-54
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:df9556062a81c21ccbce309c28555cafec53a1c7a4491796de6a61216fa02a6a0f0c3088696c1d7fc132256c62fd6b4c3ac0ceef8fcd6966d94b2d0a6769e8f9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220812/cdc_220812_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 983.78 KB ]