A Review of Occupational Silica Exposures on Continuous Mining Operations [journal article]

Details

• Personal Author:
  Goodman, Gerrit V. R. ; Listak, Jeffrey M. ; Organiscak, John A.
• Description:
  Data on dust control practices, geology, and occupational exposures were gathered for approximately eighty underground continuous mining units. Despite silica contents in excess of 5 percent, nearly forty units successfully maintained silica concentrations at or below 100 micro g/m3 on a majority of occupational dust samples while the remainder had difficulty maintaining this level. These two sample sets were termed group A operations and group B operations, respectively. Analyses of productivities, geologies, and dust control parameters revealed only minor differences between these two groups. Subsequent analyses of face ventilation design showed considerable differences in silica exposure and silica content between group A and group B at the continuous mining machine and roof bolter operator occupations. These differences were minimal when using exhaust curtain ventilation with a dust scrubber. This face ventilation system may benefit operations having difficulty controlling silica dust exposure and silica dust content. Finally, the collected data showed that occupational samples from group b operations possessed generally higher silica exposures and silica content than similar samples from group A. The single head roof bolter (helper) possessed among the highest silica exposures and silica contents in both groups. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Geology Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Coal-mining Dust-control Dust-control-equipment Dust-exposure Dust-suppression Dusts Mining-industry Silica-dusts Underground-mining
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• 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:
  105-113
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025191
• Citation:
  Proceedings of the Thirty-first Annual Institute on Mining Health, Safety and Research, August 27-30, 2000, Roanoke, Virginia. Bockosh GR, Karmis M, Langton J, McCarter MK, Rowe B, eds. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2000 Aug; :105-113
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7) ; Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Editor(s):
  Bockosh GR; Karmis M; Langton J; McCarter MK; Rowe B
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4d3b4bd8edabc31c1dcd50d3749ea34621aa3dea3b3f12fd66fd7502b184df4454000d067ce2fd362d6303bbb5e95e447339264719d260896ec1362a9e1afed6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220900/cdc_220900_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.82 MB ]