Influence of Continuous Mining Arrangements on Respirable Dust Exposures [preprint]

Details

• Personal Author:
  Beck, Timothy W. ; Organiscak, John A. ; Pollock DE ; Potts, J. Drew ; Reed, William R. ; Beck, Timothy W. ; Organiscak, John A. ; Pollock DE ; Potts, J. Drew ; Reed, William R.
• Description:
  In underground continuous mining operations, ventilation, water sprays, and machine-mounted flooded bed scrubbers are the primary means of controlling respirable dust exposures at the working face. Changes in mining arrangements, such as, face ventilation configuration, orientation of crosscuts mined in relation to the section ventilation, and equipment operator positioning, can impact the ability of dust controls to reduce occupational respirable dust exposures. This study reports and analyzes dust concentrations measured by the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research for both remote-controlled continuous mining machine operators and haulage operators at ten U.S. underground mines. Results of these respirable dust surveys show that continuous miner exposures varied little based on depth of cut, but are significantly affected by ventilation configuration. Haulage operators experienced elevated concentrations in blowing face ventilation. The type of cut influenced exposures, with elevated exposures observed for both continuous miner operators and haulage operators when working in crosscuts driven into, or counter to, the section airflow. Individual cuts are highlighted to demonstrate instances of minimal and excessive dust exposure attributable to particular mining configurations. These findings form the basis of recommendations for lowering face worker respirable dust exposures when performing a variety of continuous mining cuts. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Engineering Mining Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Ventilation

  More +
• Keywords:
  Coal-dust Coal-miners Coal-mining Coal-workers Control-technology Dust-exposure Dusts Engineering-controls Equipment-operators Exposure-levels Miners Mining-industry Respirable-dust Respiratory-protection Risk-factors Underground-miners Underground-mining

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications   ; Mining Publications  
• Publisher:
  Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research ; OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046515
• Citation:
  2015 SME Annual Meeting, February 15-18, 2015, Denver, Colorado, preprint 15-004. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2015 Feb; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining ; Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  2015 SME Annual Meeting, February 15-18, 2015, Denver, Colorado, preprint 15-004
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:86ed9b4301a94101bed6f656a240652395345b324b4e7e069edc82e099bdb59e73d40096d3d54e5df75bc9332cb441de2d0e1bb1e199a4dfa1832ea7fd998cfd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228142/cdc_228142_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.10 MB ]