Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Prevalence Disparity Between Australia and the United States

Details

• Personal Author:
  Collnet JF ; Joy, Gerald J. ; Landen, Deborah D.
• Description:
  Although rates of pneumoconiosis in coal miners have declined substantially in the United States since the passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969, new cases continue to occur, including cases of rapidly progressive disease. In contrast, Australia's underground coal mining industry has reported few new cases of pneumoconiosis for more than 20 years. Mortality from coal workers' pneumoconiosis in official health statistics and the prevalence of pneumoconiosis among miners screened in X-ray surveillance programs are also lower in Australia. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was requested by both industry and labor stakeholders to examine this issue, with the ultimate aim of reducing the rate of pneumoconiosis among U.S. coal miners. A number of factors, including coal dust exposure, silica exposure and coal rank were examined as potential contributors to the above noted differences. Comparison of coal rank data from each country did not illuminate the issue. Air sample data from the coal mining industries in both countries show that coal dust levels in Australian mines are somewhat higher than those reported in similar U.S. mines; however, quartz exposure for Australian miners is lower than for many U.S. miners. If quartz is contributing to the greater number of cases of pneumoconiosis in the United States, more effective dust control measures, as well as an independent exposure standard for respirable quartz in coal mining, should be implemented to reduce this potentially disabling condition. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Environmental Monitoring Mining Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Quartz Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Silicon Dioxide

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• Keywords:
  Air-samples Air-sampling Coal-dust Coal-miners Coal-mining Coal-workers Diseases Dust-exposure Dusts Exposure-levels Mining-industry Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Pneumoconiosis Pulmonary-system-disorders Quartz-dust Respiratory-system-disorders Silica-dusts Underground-mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0026-5187
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  65-71
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041526
• Citation:
  Min Eng 2012 Jul; 64(7):65-71
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7) ; Silica (CAS RN 7631-86-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Mining Engineering
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bc234fa6d955afc13d152d37c8047ad499e4cbfd02ed51469de8d5310badf921196297814fb2bcb7a74af6bee1efd9b8dd336bf479a1b0ae7b5f800c791dc4d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227457/cdc_227457_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.02 MB ]