Guidelines for managing identified lung disease in the coal mining environment

Last month, Coal Services Health in New South Wales, Australia released "Guidelines for managing identified lung disease in the coal mining environment" 20240725_Guidelines.pdf (coalservices.com.au). As we are all aware, the goal is to prevent exposure to hazardous levels of dust (inhalable, respirable, crystalline silica) for workers in the industry.

Black lung shown in X-Ray - white clouds in the black area of the lung are the disease

Historically, this has not been managed effectively, and as a result, we are unfortunately detecting cases of lung disease at different stages through health surveillance. The released guideline provides allowed levels of exposure, medical surveillance requirements, and dust monitoring requirements for workers at different stages of lung disease, allowing them to continue working in the industry and preventing any further harmful exposure. Our goal should be to effectively control dust levels and prevent exposure to workers as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).

For workers in equipment with cabs, AS/NZS ISO 23875 Mining — Air quality control systems for operator enclosures — Performance requirements and test methods have been shown to provide protection at levels lower than the current lowest workplace exposure standards and should be one component of your dust management program to protect worker health.

If you find this helpful, please repost it. Your comments are appreciated. Further information about AS/NZS ISO 23875, including an online course on the standard, can be found at ISEEE.NET