Reducing Enclosed Cab Drill Operator’s Respirable Dust Exposure at a Surface Coal Operation Using a Retrofitted Filtration and Pressurization System

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ashley JD ; Cecala, Andrew B. ; Fisher T ; Gresh RE ; Heitbrink, William A. ; Organiscak, John A. ; Zimmer JA
• Description:
  The mobile equipment used in surface coal mining often has enclosed cabs to protect equipment operators. The overburden removal process is extremely dusty and can cause excessive exposure to respirable dust, especially crystalline silica. After the equipment has been used for years, many components of the enclosure deteriorate, and its effectiveness is greatly reduced. This paper discusses a cooperative research study performed on an Ingersoll Rand DM45E surface drill, retrofitted with a new Sigma pressurization and filtration system. Respirable dust concentrations in the drill cab were substantially reduced from 0.64 milligrams per cubic meter during pretesting to 0.05 milligrams per cubic meter during posttesting with the new system, a 92% reduction. This new system seems to be a very well built and sturdy device that is well suited for the mining industry. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Filtration Hazardous Substances Mining Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Silicon Dioxide
• Keywords:
  Coal-mining Drill-operators Dust-exposure Dust-measurement Dust-sampling Dusts Enclosed-cabs Equipment-operators Health-hazards Mining-equipment Occupational-hazards Respirable-dust Silica-dusts Surface-mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1075-8623
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Iowa ; Kentucky ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7 ; Pennsylvania ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  31-36
• Volume:
  314
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026083
• Citation:
  Trans Soc Min Metall Explor 2003 Dec; 314:31-36
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Editor(s):
  Yernberg WR
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  University of Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20080701
• Source Full Name:
  Transactions of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration
• End Date:
  20130630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:de2c16fc45cce26701817249d2c2a399e5f57425ecc08f69d8cd35fc17eae83ff95666c079fea7a198218bf7caf8efaf44911ad6341e82e0f962c8bba16b391d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220967/cdc_220967_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.43 MB ]