PURPOSE:  Reduce respirable dust-related health concerns by developing portable, mine-worthy devices capable of providing timely measurement of coal and silica dust, diesel aerosols, and other airborne contaminants.

RESEARCH SUMMARY:  Assessment of workplace exposure to particulate matter is a critical step in eliminating dust-related occupational illness and disease. During 1990-99, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis caused the deaths of 15,036 U.S. miners. Between 1987 and 1996, silicosis, excluding carcinomas potentially caused by silica, prematurely shortened Americans' lives by 33,000 years. In 1988, NIOSH recommended that whole diesel exhaust be regarded as a potential occupational carcinogen.

Current industrial hygiene particulate assessment methods do not provide timely data to an industry with a workplace as dynamic and unique as mining. The intent of this project is to study and develop various tools that can be used to assess mineworker exposure to airborne particulate. Real-time measurement tools will enable workers and management to take corrective action before dust levels can affect workers' health.

Two specific devices are in development. A mine-worthy and accurate personal dust monitor (PDM) has been designed and built based on a tapered element oscillating microbalance, an inertial-oriented, momentum compensated mass sensor. The PDM meets the NIOSH accuracy criteria and provides timely data to miners wearing the unit. Laboratory evaluations of this device are completed and field trials are well along. New Mine Safety and Health Administration rules regarding compliance-based underground dust measurements are on hold pending the outcome of this research. A fast, accurate, and economic method to measure diesel exhaust particulate has also been developed, based upon the NIOSH-patented dust dosimeter. It relies on the measurement of increased differential pressure across a filter that is inserted into an engine tailpipe. The Australian government is considering rulemaking involving the adoption of this device into their mines.

Acceptance by regulatory agencies, miners, and industry personnel of the instruments developed will make it more likely that particulate levels are maintained within acceptable limits. The successful outcome of the work will result in new tools and approaches to particulate monitoring, designed to protect worker health. These technical advancements will be transferred to industry through mine visits, briefings, conference presentations, and formal and informal workshops.