The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

November 26, 2009

MSHA hopes to reduce black lung among miners

By Mannix Porterfield

A strategy for reducing the incidence of black lung disease among American coal miners is to be unveiled in a series of regional meetings by the U.S. Department of Labor, starting next week in Beckley.

Leading off the public events will be a discussion at 11 a.m. next Thursday at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy on Airport Road.

Conducting the talks will be Joseph Main, director of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the agency’s deputy assistant, Dr. Gregory Wagner.

Joining them will be officials of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, along with various medical experts.

Black lung, or pneumoconiosis, is a lung disorder caused by inhaling dust from coal, graphite or man-made carbon over an extended time, and occurs in two distinct forms. One is known as simple black lung, the other is considered complicated. Acquiring the ailment depends on how workers are exposed to dust.

Amy Louviere, a spokesperson for MSHA, declined to say just how the agency intends to attack black lung but said the meetings were set up strategically in coal-producing areas where the numbers are high.

“This is a whole series of actions we’re going to take to get this problem under control,” she said.

“We’re trying to target the states where the problems are the biggest.”

Part of the plan entails the replacement of existing dust monitoring devices with new models that perform on a continuing basis, Main told The Register-Herald in a recent interview.

Already, some of those devices are in use at some mining operations, he said.

More stringent regulations imposed in 1969 led to a 90 percent decrease in black lung, but cases have almost doubled within the past decade. From 1994 to 2004, more than 14,000 deaths among mine workers were attributed to the disease. The most deaths in a single year totaled 2,910 in 1972, and the fewest, at 405, were recorded in 2008.

Another area of concentration by MSHA’s accelerated push is to look at industry conditions that have led to accidents, along with preparedness measures in the event of emergencies, Main said.

After the initial meeting in Beckley, MSHA will be conducting events set for Dec. 7 in Washington, Pa., Dec. 10 in Lebanon, Va., and Dec. 11 in Frankfort, Ky.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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