I found this story on coal miners interesting...

[Kronx]

A pretty in-depth look at the thousands of coal minders who are dying from advanced black lung. Which is not being caused by coal dust so much as it being caused by silica dust. Which is the dust from the quartz they drill through to get to the coal as most major coal veins are tapped out. There's a listen option at the top of the article to hear it rather than read it. I listened to it on the commute to work.

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/6752...-coal-miners-regulators-could-have-stopped-it

 

[[email protected]]

Didn't read the article but aren't respirators necessary during mining?
In the past couple years OSHA has been getting much more strict on silica dust in general construction. There has been a huge run on HEPA vacuums and attachments for SDS drills, and grinders in order to collect the dust before the employee is able to breathe it in.
I would have thought MSHA would require some substantial PPE to prevent this kind of thing as well as air quality monitoring?

 

[Kronx]

There's a lot of factors causing the problems. But one of the issues brought up in piece is that there's really not much specifically addressing silica dust. The regulations/agencies/safety etc took a "high tide raises all ships" approach and assumed increasing regulations and safety on coal dust in turn would help with silica. But there's 30 years of data showing it's not. Silica dust is like 20x more toxic than coal dust and really requires specific safety protocols addressing it directly. And that's not really being done on any significant scale across the industry. They are starting to come around. I suspect due to lawsuits.

 

[rebeltaz83]

Didn't read the article but aren't respirators necessary during mining?
In the past couple years OSHA has been getting much more strict on silica dust in general construction. There has been a huge run on HEPA vacuums and attachments for SDS drills, and grinders in order to collect the dust before the employee is able to breathe it in.
I would have thought MSHA would require some substantial PPE to prevent this kind of thing as well as air quality monitoring?

Only if their air tests come back with bad results. I work in a granite quarry, I run the plant. I can look out the window and watch the Rock get crushed. I've had msha air testers attached to me once a year and they haven't made me wear a respirator yet. Also depends on their findings. Same with sound and ear plugs. And we run dust suppression when we crush, it's mandatory from dhec. resperators are available if we ask for them, but only required if in a low vented area, and sometimes a required outside air source to supply air. We don't have any of that at our quarry, it's all above ground, with open areas for the most part. I stay inside when the plant is running, sometimes the occasional bathroom run, but I try to do it before a truck gets back with a load of Rock to dump in the crushed, it gets extremely Dusty when they dump 50 to 60 tons of Rock, and dirt into the feeder, that supplys the crusher. It's amazing to watch a Rock the size of the average family sedan get turned into 4" rip rap, so the finishing plant can break it down from there. Silica is in more than just coal dust. It's in almost everything to do with construction. It's the fine particles in the air we can't see. It's in granite, it's in cement dust dealt with it when I drove concrete mixer, before switching to a quarry job. It's in brick, blocks, coal, and dirt lol. You breath it when you mow your lawn. Just depends on how long your exposed, and how much of it is in the air, It's nasty stuff. It's been known for a long time, but not much is really being done about it. Nothing at my quarry has changed about silica dust. It'll prolly come down to wearing a resperator anytime your outside your equipment. I feel like someday with all the safety regs. I'll working in bubble wrap, and a haz-mat suit, with a safety harness for the entire shift. With all the mandatory ppe, and sop for the job at hand. And don't confuse Msha with Osha. They are night and day. Nothing alike. OSHA requires fall protection at 6 feet and higher. MSHA requires fall protection when there is a risk of falling, very vague.

 

[Zeus36]

I worked for the Timken Steel Plant in Canton, Ohio for several years as a Millwright Apprentice. They made the specialty steels for their tapered roller bearing factories.
When you would blow your nose at the end of shift, it would be black stuff! Fortunately, I joined the Navy during a layoff and did not go back working in the mill.