Miners' Views About Personal Dust Monitors

Coal workers´ pneumoconiosis is the leading cause of death due to occupational illness among U.S. coal miners. This disease is caused by miners´ exposure to excessive levels of respirable coal mine dust. A personal dust monitor (PDM) has recently been developed to provide near real-time feedback to miners regarding the level of respirable coal dust in the air they breathe. The main objective of this report is to document coal miners´ reactions to this device and how they make use of the information it provides. It summarizes a field study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that documented the opinions of 30 miners at 4 underground coal mines concerning the use of PDMs.