Emerging issues in miner health are driven by deeper and more complex mines; shifting work organization; changing airborne particles from advancing technologies; bigger, faster, and more sophisticated machinery; and new chemical exposures. Miners and emergency responders face extreme heat and cold stresses as mines become more remote or go deeper. Increasingly complex mines challenge miners’ ability to navigate through everyday work processes but more critically, under emergency situations. Miners are exposed to chemicals, metals, and trace toxic substances that continue to evolve due to technological or environmental changes. Improving health outcomes will require both the use of emerging technologies to solve health hazards as well as attention to the hazards introduced by new technologies.

A specific example of an emerging health issue is mine workers’ exposures to chemicals, dusts, mine gases, and industrial fumes. Overexposure to these substances may cause acute or chronic health problems. A NIOSH study inventoried 2,570 different chemical substances and 84,939 trade name substances at 491 selected mine sites. The results show potential exposures to a variety of chemical hazards in U.S. mines. The effects of these chemical and environmental hazards are hard to quantify. Traditional occupational health surveillance data, such as those from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, significantly underestimate injuries and illnesses, and special filters must be used to supplement the numbers. The Mine Safety and Health Administration also requires injury, illness, and disease documentation, but only those that are most obviously work-related may actually be reported. For instance, because most diseases take time to become symptomatic, the ability to directly link the disease to work exposure is reduced.

The health hazards emphasis is relatively new for the NIOSH mining program compared with other programs that have a longer history and a record of impressive influence on the industry. Potential outcomes of the health hazards program are expected to improve the health and safety of miners. However, there are specific outcomes in the intermediate stage that are already beginning to influence the reduction of chemical and environmental exposures.

• The HazCom Helper software program provided an enhanced communication tool for mine companies, thus raising awareness of chemical hazards in the workplace beyond minimal compliance requirements.
• Mine rescue teams are more aware of and are using procedures such as forced rest and body temperature monitoring to maintain optimum activity levels while working in hot environments.

The transfer of key findings has occurred in conferences among scientific peers and at seminars and workshops for mining safety and health professionals, as well as through publications, CDs, and other products.