ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book attempts a social history of mining from the point of view of the miner's body, placing at centre stage the devastation wreaked upon mining communities by inhaling dust at work. By tracing the history of pneumoconiosis, bronchitis and emphysema in coal mining, they have explored how and why one of the most deadly and disabling of all occupational health disasters in Britain's history occurred. The idea of reducing mine dust to a minimum has only been incorporated in the most recent of coal dust regulations proposed in 2004. The implementation of a more common-sense strategy in which dust levels were reduced to as low as possible would have been a much better idea. The epidemiological studies of coal miners' respiratory health entailed that medical approaches to the dust problem and engineering approaches were frequently interdependent.
