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Occupational Medicine 52:137-149 (2002)
Copyright © 2002 Society of Occupational Medicine

Coal dust exposures in the longwall mines of New South Wales, Australia: a respiratory risk assessment

G. V. Kizil and A. M. Donoghue

The Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre, Frank White Annexe, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

Correspondence to: Dr A. Michael Donoghue, The School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD 4059, Australia. e-mail: m.donoghue{at}qut.edu.au

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of personal respirable coal dust measurements recorded by the Joint Coal Board in the underground longwall mines of New South Wales from 1985 to 1999. A description of the longwall mining process is given. In the study, 11 829 measurements from 33 mines were analysed and the results given for each occupation, for seven occupational groups, for individual de-identified mines and for each year of study. The mean respirable coal dust concentration for all jobs was 1.51 mg/m3 (SD 1.08 mg/m3). Only 6.9% of the measurements exceeded the Australian exposure standard of 3 mg/m3. Published exposure–response relationships were used to predict the prevalence of progressive massive fibrosis and the mean loss of FEV1, after a working lifetime (40 years) of exposure to the mean observed concentration of 1.5 mg/m3. Prevalences of 1.3 and 2.9% were predicted, based on data from the UK and the USA, respectively. The mean loss of FEV1 was estimated to be 73.7 ml.

Keywords      Coal; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; longwall; mining; pneumoconiosis; progressive massive fibrosis; underground


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