NIOSHTIC-2 Publications Search

Characterization of visible dust plumes from surface coal mine highwall drills.

Cocalis J

American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-25, 2000, Orlando, Florida. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2000 May; :90

20041664

Situation: Surface coal mine highwall drill dust exposure has been liked to silicosis. Traditional gravimetric sampling, using cyclones, may not identify peak exposures that are believed to occur when visible dust plumes are present. Characterization of these exposure peaks is important from the standpoint of both health assessment and exposure control. Problems: Short-term high-intensity exposures to respirable crystalline silica have not been well quantified for surface coal mine drilling operations. Resolution: Surface coal mine drill dust plumes were concurrently videotaped and sampled using DataRams, personal impactors, and traditional samplers. The results indicate the presence of respirable dust in all plumes, with short-term peak concentrations of 100-400 mg/m3 typically lasting for up to 10 seconds. How will sharing this work experience benefit other industrial hygiene practitioners? These data can be used for better exposure control, including the design of cabs to withstand peak exposures.

Mine-workers; Mining-industry; Miners; Coal-mining; Coal-miners; Surface-mining; Coal-dust; Highwall-mining; Mining-equipment; Silica-dusts; Silicosis; Gravimetric-analysis; Cyclone-air-samplers; Exposure-assessment; Respirable-dust; Dust-sampling; Dusts; Dust-exposure; Short-term-exposure; Dust-samplers; Dust-control; Control-equipment; Equipment-design

7631-86-9; 14808-60-7

20000520

Abstract

2000

DRDS

American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 20-25, 2000, Orlando, Florida

WV; FL; VA