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Silicosis And Dust Suppression
AfricaAggregateCleaningDesignEngineeringEnvironmentPPEPumpsSurfaceSystemSystemsWaterEquipmentMaintenance
AfricaAggregateCleaningDesignEngineeringEnvironmentPPEPumpsSurfaceSystemSystemsWaterEquipmentMaintenance
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Silicosis and Dust Suppression
Silicosis and Dust Suppression
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New Federal Safety Rules On Silica Dust Aim To Protect Miners' Lungs
On Tuesday, federal officials posted new rules to protect coal and other miners from toxic silica dust, a growing problem in mines that has left thousands sick and dying.
It took mine safety regulators 50 years to do what federal researchers had long urged: make the exposure limit to silica dust twice as restrictive as currently allowed and directly regulate exposure so citations and fines are possible when miners are overexposed.
The new regulation also imposes for miners the same silica exposure limits that already apply to all other workers in the United States.
"No miner should ever have to sacrifice their health or lungs in order to provide for their family," said Chris Williamson, the assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration acted after joint investigative reporting by NPR, Ohio Valley ReSource, Public Health Watch, Mountain State Spotlight and Louisville Public Media exposed: a once-hidden epidemic of severe, incurable and fatal black lung disease; thousands of cases of disease among younger and younger miners; thousands of instances of ongoing overexposure to silica dust; and decades of failure to respond.
"It is unconscionable that our nation's miners have worked without adequate protection from silica dust despite it being a known health hazard for decades," acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a prepared statement.
MSHA revealed key elements of the regulation Monday night and published the full text of the final rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday morning, just before a news conference in Uniontown, Penn., before an audience of mine safety advocates and union representatives.
The new regulation requires mining companies to monitor the air miners breathe while working, and adjust working conditions when excess silica dust is present. Instances of overexposure must be reported to MSHA, a requirement that was not in a regulation initially proposed last year but was inserted after the news organizations' reporting and complaints from mine safety advocates.
The agency also makes a slightly stronger case for action. The proposed regulation failed to take into account the thousands of cases of severe or complicated black lung that have already occurred. The joint investigations by NPR, Public Health Watch and their partners documented more than 4,000 cases of disease since 2010, and hundreds of deaths. But the agency predicted the new regulation would prevent only 244 cases of disease and 63 deaths of coal miners over 60 years.
/ Earl Dotter
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Earl Dotter
Jess Bishop takes his last breaths while his sons — also coal miners — keep vigil in Logan County, W.Va., in 1976. Since 2010, more than 4,000 coal miners have been diagnosed with advanced black lung disease.A strong case for stricter regulation is critical given possible industry and congressional opposition.
The final regulation explicitly excludes the cases reported by black lung clinics and cited in our investigative reporting. "Newer data from Black Lung Clinics can provide suggestive evidence of the risks, but because it is not yet incorporated into...Peer-reviewed risk models, it cannot be included in this analysis," the rule reads.
So, for coal mines, the agency says the new regulation will prevent 325 cases of disease and 85 deaths.
"This is a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy not just day to day, but for their full lifetime," said Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America. "Now, our focus shifts to holding mining companies accountable."
Silica is one of Earth's most abundant minerals, and it's about 20 times more toxic than coal dust. It's typical in the quartz that surrounds coal seams, especially in central Appalachia.
Not just coal minersMining companies are being given time to adapt to the regulatory changes. Coal mines have a year to prepare. All other mines, collectively known as metal/nonmetal mines (MNM), have two years. That's because the regulation imposes requirements that have never existed for MNM mines, including a health surveillance program with free periodic exams to detect early stages of silica-caused lung disease. The results of those exams must be reported to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which has monitored the health of coal miners for decades.
MNM mines will also be required to do more dust sampling. Both that and the medical surveillance program will require extensive and costly additions to the mining process. That could trigger challenges.
The new regulation is a monumental shift for MSHA, which identified a cluster of silica-caused black lung disease in 1996, and warned the mining industry about over exposure, but failed to impose new requirements. Agency officials at the time blamed industry opposition.
"It's a good rule," said Vonda Robinson, vice president of the National Black Lung Association. But she said she's disappointed that most of the dust monitoring will be conducted by mining companies and not federal mine inspectors.
"The coal operators should not do the testing," Robinson said in an interview. "I simply do not trust them."
Is it enough?MSHA inspectors will monitor mine air for toxic dust during quarterly inspections. But that's only four times a year.
"If the mines have to play a part in it, let them play a small part, but not the critical part," said Debbie Johnson, a nurse at a black lung clinic in West Virginia whose husband suffers from the advanced stage of disease.
"That should be done by MSHA. So our government needs to...Give MSHA some more money so they can get some people out there."
MSHA's resources are already strained and Congress denied a $50 million budget increase for more mine inspections and more silica dust sampling. Some Republicans in Congress have already tried to prohibit MSHA spending for implementation of the silica dust regulation.
The National Mining Association, which represents mine operators, welcomed one key element of the new regulation.
"We fully support the new, lower [silica dust] limits contained in the rule and are committed to working to improve the health and safety of our miners," said Ashley Burke, the association's spokeswoman.
Federal officials vowed to take a hardline stance with any mining companies that don't fall in line with the new requirements.
"Any operator sampling that is required under this final rule is in addition to the existing silica sampling that MSHA already conducts. It's not a replacement for it' it's in addition to," said Williamson, who is with the federal mine safety agency.
Cecil Roberts, the president of the mine workers' union, was especially animated at the announcement, shouting and pounding on the podium as he spoke. He expressed the dire need for unions and the government to keep mine companies in check in order to protect miners, even as coal jobs are on the decline.
"We're trying to save people's lives!" he said.
Vonda Robinson has watched her husband suffer from black lung disease. She suggested the stakes are high for miners in MSHA's attempt to finally get tough on silica dust.
"The miners need to have a healthy life mining coal," she said. "And not leave their family at a young age from dying from black lung disease and silica."
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Howard Berkes is a member of the Public Health Watch board of directors. Berkes is a former NPR investigations correspondent who collaborated with PBS Frontline on a landmark 2018 investigation exposing an epidemic of advanced black lung disease and the failure of federal regulators to prevent it. Justin Hicks is a data reporter for Louisville Public Media. Allen Siegler of Mountain State Spotlight contributed to this story.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.Npr.Org.
Mine Safety Advocates Urge Senate Committee To Do More To Help Miners With Black Lung Disease
The U.S. Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions heard from mine safety advocates Wednesday about ways to make mines safer and help those who develop black lung disease get the health care and disability benefits that they deserve.
The hearing comes weeks after the Mine Safety and Health Administration issued a rule limiting the levels of silica dust allowed in operating mines and requiring mine operators to monitor for it. Silica dust exposure can lead to a particularly severe form of black lung disease
Testifiers said that while the rule was a positive step, Congress could do more to prevent future cases of black lung and ensure miners who do get sick can access health care and disability funds.
Dr. Drew Harris, the medical director of the largest black lung clinic at the University of Virginia, the largest such clinic in the country. He shared the story of one of his patients, whom he referred to simply as Paul.
Paul worked in a mine for eight years until a roof collapse rendered him unable to continue mining. Years later, he began having trouble breathing and was shortly diagnosed with black lung.
"He applied three times for black lung benefits, but was denied benefits each time," Harris said.
According to Harris and other testifiers, Paul's story is not unique. It took several years of battling for them, but Paul ultimately did get benefits, which include a monthly stipend and health care.
"The black lung benefit system as currently designed now does not work for miners like Paul," Harris said.
In many cases, sick miners struggle to get legal representation when appealing a denial of black lung benefits. And it can be difficult to prove that the disease is severe enough to qualify for those benefits, especially with so few doctors in the rural areas where the disease is most common, with doctors who specialize in the disease in short supply.
According to other testifiers, miners who are denied benefits often face challenges from well-heeled coal companies who employ attorneys to fight their claims, and are financially disincentivized from helping them.
"A coal miner who is sick and can't work is trying to get benefits against an attorney who is making $400,000 a year," said Cecil Roberts, President of the United Mine Workers Association and a former miner. "They have access to doctors from all over the United States, and that coal miner doesn't have that."
Roberts also noted that attorneys specializing in appealing denials of black lung benefits can be hard to find.
Mine safety advocates agree new silica dust rule is progress, but some worry it's not enough
Moreover, according to lawmakers and testifiers, federal funds for disabled miners are proving insufficient. Typically, mine operators and their insurance companies are responsible for paying disability funds when a miner contracts black lung. But when mine operators are unable to pay for reasons like bankruptcy, the tab falls to the federally operated Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
"This fund has been grossly mismanaged, where its total liabilities exceeded its assets by billions of dollars," said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). "It's no good. It's not going to be there for the people who need it."
Cindy Brown Barnes is the managing director of the Government Accountability Office's Education, Workforce and Income Security team. She testified that an increase in the number of young miners contracting black lung disease, a large number of coal company bankruptcies and a long history of borrowing money have left the fund straining at the seams.
"The trust fund has serious financial challenges," Barnes said. "Based on the Department of Labor's projection, the trust debt could exceed $13 billion by 2050."
One proposal to alleviate some of these issues is a bill put forward by committee member Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) known as the Black Lung Benefit Improvement Act. Testifiers urged its passing.
The bill would require better imaging for miners, which, according to Harris, would make diagnosis of black lung disease easier and more difficult to dispute. It would also raise sick miners' monthly stipends in line with inflation, provide miners with attorneys fees when their cases hit certain benchmarks, ban lawyers representing coal companies from withholding information that may help miners secure their claims and require the Department of Labor to come up with a way to address the backlog of claims.
"My bill will ensure that every coal miner who is suffering from black lung disease receives the benefits that they and their families are entitled to," Casey said in a statement Wednesday. "With the most serious black lung cases still on the rise, we owe it to our miners to make damn sure they get the care and benefits they've earned."
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is a co-sponsor of Casey's bill, and Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) has introduced a similar bill in the House. Neither bill has been taken up in committee yet.
Roberts also recommended lawmakers codify the new silica dust rules into law.
"If we have a change in leadership at MSHA or Secretary of Labor, we might see this rule changed and we'll be right back where we were," Roberts said. "If it's a good rule it certainly should be a good law."
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