Federal agencies Silica Mining, oil and gas Workplace exposures Mining_Oil_Gas

NIOSH, MSHA seeking presenters for workshop on silica exposure, lung disease in mining

Hanging helmets

Photo: Madzia71/iStockphoto

Washington — NIOSH and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are looking for presenters for a virtual workshop on silica exposure and lung disease in the mining industry, scheduled for Oct. 22-23.

Anyone interested in presenting at the event should email by Aug. 19 a brief synopsis of his or her proposed presentation to Jessica Kogel at [email protected] and Roslyn Fontaine at [email protected].

At press time, a tentative agenda for the event included discussions on silica exposure and incidence rates, as well as proven technologies for mitigating miners’ exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

 

Results of a NIOSH study published in December show that surface coal miners – especially those involved in drilling operations – may be exposed to higher concentrations of respirable dust or quartz. This puts them at elevated risk of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a deadly but preventable disease commonly known as black lung.

Post a comment to this article

Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)