ABSTRACT
This article summarizes our progress in a five-year capacity building research project funded by NIOSH. The research is a collaborative effort between three mining engineering schools, one medical school, and technology developers/partners. The project’s main objective is to investigate the characterization, deposition, monitoring, and mitigation of respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) and building capacity in the areas of dust control, mine ventilation, and mine health and safety. During the first year of the project, a comprehensive review of coal mine dust characterization studies from 1972 to the present was conducted. Statistical models were developed to investigate the effects of mine size, coal seam height, coal rank, and the mines’ geographical location on the prevalence of CWP. The primary sources of RCMD, along with the potential exposure to health risks, are highlighted. Furthermore, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) annual accident database between 1989 and 2018 was utilized to investigate the coal mine dust and quartz concentration in various geographical locations to identify the differences in concentration of mine dust in Western, Interior, and Appalachian regions.
