Category: Mining

NIOSH Mine Emergency Escape Simulation Technology Available for Developers

 Background All underground coal miners in the United States receive escape training on a quarterly basis. This training prepares them for exiting the mine in the event of an emergency and it must include walking either the primary or the secondary escape route from their work area to the outside (30 CFR, 2015). As a Read More >

Posted on by Timothy J. Orr16 Comments

Respirator Care = Safe to Wear!

Happy Valentine’s Day! And on this most romantic day of the year, what else could you possibly do than show some love … to your respirator. Last year on this day, we blogged about maintaining your relationship with your Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). To continue to spread the love, this year we want to focus Read More >

Posted on by Courtney Neiderhiser, MS and Jaclyn Krah, MA 7 Comments

World Cancer Day – Cancer Detectives in the Workplace

Today is World Cancer Day. Around the world, 12.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer every year, and the number is expected to increase due to the growth and aging of the population, as well as reductions in childhood mortality and deaths from infectious diseases in developing countries (ACS 2011). Cancer is the leading cause Read More >

Posted on by Mary K. Schubauer-Berigan, Ph.D.; Tania Carreόn-Valencia, Ph.D.; Avima M. Ruder, Ph.D.; Lynne E. Pinkerton, M.D., M.P.H.8 Comments

The Importance of Occupational Safety and Health: Making for a “Super” Workplace

There’s just something about superhero movie summer releases that gets us here at NIOSH excited about safety. This summer the source of our inspiration came from the Man of Steel© movie. In the film, pre-Superman Clark Kent is working as a commercial fisherman (a hazardous job if you’re not a man of steel). He risks Read More >

Posted on by Jaclyn Krah, MA; Richard L. Unger 29 Comments

How Does Work Affect the Health of the U.S. Population? Free Data from the 2010 NHIS-OHS Provides the Answers

You may have some hypotheses about how work affects the health of the U.S. population, but collecting data from a nationally representative sample is expensive and time-consuming. What if there was free data available at your fingertips? You’re in luck! NIOSH sponsored an Occupational Health Supplement (OHS) to the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Read More >

Posted on by Sara E. Luckhaupt, MD, MPH; Dara L. Burris, BS 12 Comments

NIOSH HPD Well-Fit™: The Future is Fit-Testing

Today is Save Your Hearing Day.  For workers and others who are exposed to dangerously loud noises which cannot be reduced or eliminated, hearing protection devices (HPDs) are absolutely necessary to save their hearing.  But if HPDs are not properly selected or correctly worn, the devices may not block out enough noise and the wearer Read More >

Posted on by Captain William J. Murphy, Ph.D.; Dr. Mark R. Stephenson, Ph.D.; Captain David C. Byrne, M.S. CCC-A; Christa L. Themann, M.S. CCC-A 13 Comments

First Father’s Day Tied to the Workplace

Did you know that the first Father’s Day has workplace origins?  On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event to explicitly honor fathers.1  The Sunday sermon was held in memory of the 362 men who were killed in explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, West Virginia the Read More >

Posted on by Laurie I. Breyer, JD, MA 2 Comments

NIOSH Research on Work Schedules and Work-related Sleep Loss

Yesterday, in honor of National Sleep Awareness Week, we blogged about sleep and work and the risks to workers, employers, and the public when workers’ hours and shifts do not allow for adequate sleep.   This blog provides a brief overview of some of the work that NIOSH intramural scientists are carrying out to better understand Read More >

Posted on by Claire Caruso, PhD, RN; Luenda Charles, PhD; Tina Lawson, PhD; Akinori Nakata, PhD; Karl Sieber, PhD; Sudha Pandalai, MD, PhD; and Ted Hitchcock, PhD28 Comments

Sleep and Work

Sleep is a vital biological function and many Americans don’t get enough. To coincide with National Sleep Awareness Week, the new NIOSH blog post: Sleep and Work summarizes the risks to workers, employers and the public when long hours and irregular shifts required by many jobs do not allow workers to get adequate sleep. Read More >

Posted on by Claire Caruso, PhD, RN, and Roger R Rosa, PhD78 Comments

Using Digital Chest Images to Monitor the Health of Coal Miners and Other Workers

Conventional screen-film chest radiographic imaging has been an indispensable tool for monitoring the lung health of miners and other dust-exposed workers. Over the next decade, conventional film-based radiography will be completely replaced by digital radiography systems in the United States and elsewhere.  Read More >

Posted on by Michael Attfield, PhD, and David Weissman, MD15 CommentsTags

NO2 Emission Increases Associated with the Use of Certain Diesel Particulate Filters in Underground Mines

Emissions of and exposure to diesel particulate matter can sometimes be controlled through use of newer diesel engines, better engine maintenance, alternative fuels, or ventilation upgrades. Some mines may need to use diesel particulate filters, however. This has created concern about potential exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) resulting from their use.  Read More >

Posted on by Steven Mischler, PhD, Emanuele Cauda, PhD108 Comments

Faces of Black Lung

Black lung disease, which is caused by inhaling coal mine dust, results in scarring of the lungs and emphysema, shortness of breath, disability, and premature death. While the prevalence of black lung disease had decreased by about 90% from 1969 to 1995 following the enactment of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, the downward trend of this disease in coal miners has stopped. Since 1995, the prevalence of black lung cases has more than doubled. Read More >

Posted on by Administrator8 CommentsTags ,

Saving Miners’ Lives with Video-based Training

How do you take miners miles below ground to teach them how to protect themselves from some of the most dangerous hazards in the mining industry without endangering their safety or ever leaving the comfort and security of the training room? The answer, training videos.  Read More >

Posted on by Elaine T Cullen, PhD2 CommentsTags , ,