Key Components for an Effective Filtration and Pressurization System to Reduce Respirable Dust in Enclosed Cabs for the Mining Industry

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cecala, Andrew B. ; Noll, James D. ; Organiscak, John A. ; Rider, James P.
• Description:
  Enclosed cabs have been used for many years to isolate workers on mobile equipment in the mining industry for health and safety reasons. These enclosed cabs create a microenvironment for workers where they can be either more protected or more vulnerable to contaminants. Over the past decade, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has performed substantial research efforts to improve the air quality inside enclosed cabs of both underground and surface mobile mining equipment. In these efforts, NIOSH has partnered with mining companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and manufacturers of filtrations and pressurizations systems in a synergistic effort to reduce respirable dust and improve the air quality inside these enclosed cabs. Various field studies over this time have shown an array of results ranging from very minor to very significant reductions (protection factor: 3 - 89) in respirable dust levels inside these enclosed cabs. In addition to and concurrent to the field work, NIOSH also performed a comprehensive laboratory study to evaluate all the factors involved in cab filtration and pressurization systems and identified those factors that were most significant for an effective system. From this comprehensive research effort, the key components for an effective filtration and pressurization system have been identified in an effort to provide the best air quality, thus minimizing the respirable dust exposure, to equipment operators inside of enclosed cabs of mobile mining equipment. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Body Height Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-contamination Air-quality Air-quality-measurement Air-quality-monitoring Air-sampling Coal-dust Coal-mining Employee-exposure Environmental-engineering Equipment-design Equipment-operators Filtration Mining-equipment Mining-industry Pressure-testing Respirable-dust Safety-research Surface-mining Synergism Underground-mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 8 ; 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:
  1-7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042602
• Citation:
  2013 SME Annual Meeting, February 24 - 27, Denver, Colorado, Preprint 13-011. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2013 Feb; :1-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2013 SME Annual Meeting, February 24 - 27, Denver, Colorado, Preprint 13-011
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cc961269eaff782ea96321a07acd322ecc4eb4a5fdb0f6ef0523a4ffad457edb2bf65e04f40043722fb01996cc013500849ae88d021ee825ff5e479546e00696
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227536/cdc_227536_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 512.98 KB ]