New Safeguard Strengthens Protections for Miners' Health
Last week (April 16, 2024 to be exact), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued a final rule lowering miners’ exposure to crystalline silica. That is good news for the health of our nation’s miners – and, by extension, for all us who benefit from their labor which provides the materials that go into the devices, electronics, appliances, and other products we use on a daily basis (see here). The rule has some important new provisions. But before we dig into them, let’s look back at bit.
Some Science, Some History, Some Facts
Silica is the most plentiful mineral on Earth. About 59% of the Earth’s crust is made of silica; it is the main constituent of more than 95% of rocks and stones. The most common form of crystalline silica is quartz; cristobalite and tridymite are other forms. Crystalline silica is typically found in soil, sand, concrete, mortar, granite and other minerals, and artificial stone.
Exposure to silica dust is one of the oldest known forms of lung disease, first documented by Hippocrates in 400 BC who described breathing disorders in metal diggers. In the 1700s, Bernardino Ramazzini, the father of occupational medicine, gave a detailed description of the lung scarring and respiratory symptoms observed in stone and coal workers. Two centuries later, the number of cases of silicosis skyrocketed after the introduction of the pneumatic hammer drill in 1897 and sandblasting in 1904.
Respirable crystalline silica causes multiple diseases. The most well-known lung disease is silicosis, a form of pulmonary fibrosis that is a progressive, irreversible, debilitating, and sometimes fatal disease. Silica exposure can cause lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease. Exposure is also related to the development of autoimmune disorders and cardiovascular impairment. These life-altering diseases affect thousands of U.S. workers every year.
Silica is found in almost all mines (here, here). As of Dec 2023, the mining sector represented approximately 574,200 jobs in the U.S. See here for the number of active U.S. mines by sector.
Coal miners are exposed to silica when they cut into sandstone as they mine coal, a process that’s become more common in recent decades. As the mining machines operate, the quartz in the sandstone turns into sharp silica particles that are easily inhaled and can lodge in the lungs -- permanently.
Recent research has linked silica dust directly with severe, complicated black lung disease (see also here, here). Cases of severe black lung disease the highest they’ve been in decades, including in workers as young as in their 30’s. [Take a few minutes to watch this PBS video.]
Metal and nonmetal miners are also exposed to respirable crystalline silica, which is recognized as a leading indicator of respiratory disease in this mining population. Metal and nonmetal mines are an important industry in the U.S., with 280 metal and 859 non-metal mines providing minerals used to manufacture electronics, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and many other products.
The New Rule
As noted by Jordan Barab in his excellent Confined Space post, “The new MSHA standard comes 50 years after a report from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommended reducing worker exposure to silica, and over 90 years after at least 764 workers died digging the Hawks Nest tunnel through a mountain of solid silica near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.”
The new rule aligns exposure limits for metal/nonmetal miners and coal miners with OSHA’s 2016 standards for workers in general industry, construction, and in the maritime sector. Again, as summarized by Barab, the new rule:
Lowers the permissible exposure limit of respirable crystalline silica to 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full-shift exposure, calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average. If a miner’s exposure exceeds the limit, the final rule requires mine operators to take immediate corrective actions to come into compliance.
Requires mine operators to use engineering controls to prevent miners’ overexposures to silica dust and use dust samplings and environmental evaluations to monitor exposures.
Compels metal and nonmetal mine operators to establish medical surveillance programs to provide periodic health examinations at no cost to miners. The exams are similar to the medical surveillance programs available to coal miners under existing standards.
Replaces an outdated standard for respiratory protection with a new standard reflecting the latest advances in respiratory protection and practices. This update will better protect miners against airborne hazards, including silica dust, diesel particulate matter, asbestos and other contaminants.
The rule also requires mine operators to report instances of overexposure to MSHA, a requirement that was not in a regulation initially proposed last year but was inserted after news organizations' reporting and complaints from mine safety advocates.
Celebration and Some Caution
Mine worker safety officials applauded the new rule and hosted a kick-off event at the Department of Labor to celebrate its finalization. United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) International President Cecil E. Roberts expressed gratitude for the rule, noting UMWA’s years of advocacy for it. He called the rule as “a critical step to keeping miners safe and healthy not just day to day, but for their full lifetime,” and added “Now, our focus shifts to holding mining companies accountable.
Vonda Robinson, vice president of the National Black Lung Association, also commended the rule, while expressing disappointment 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."
MSHA inspectors will monitor mine air for toxic dust during quarterly inspections. But that's only four times a year. In the interim, the agency will have to rely on operator reporting. And there is good reason for some skepticism; there have been instances of operator cheating on dust sampling (here, here, here).
Like other safety and health agencies, MSHA lacks the resources and staff capacity to do much more. Its budget is 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.
Bottom Line
While not perfect (what rule is?), this new rule is a good thing. It follows the science and will save lives. It will give hard-working miners some important new protections and help them stay healthy. UMWA members and their families will be watching, as will clinical providers, worker health and safety advocates, and worker-friendly reporters. As beneficiaries of the work that miners do and with recognition of the risks they take on our collective behalf when they go to work every day, let’s follow the implementation of this rule and be vocal advocates for giving MSHA the resources it needs to enforce it.
About the Author
Kathleen Rest is a Senior Fellow in Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability and former Executive Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists where she oversaw the organization’s work on climate change, clean energy & transportation, sustainable agriculture, and protecting the integrity of science in public policy. She previously served as the Acting Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has held faculty appointments at several medical schools. She has served on committees for the National Academies and authored publications on occupational and environmental health issues. She is a Board member for the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics and the Institute for Policy Integrity at the NYU Law School. She is an Elected Fellow of the AAAS and a member of the American Public Health Association. She has a PhD in health policy from Boston University and a MPA from the University of Arizona.
The opinions expressed in the posts on SciLight are those of the individual authors.
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