High exposure to respirable dust and quartz in a labour-intensive coal mine in Tanzania.
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Date
2006-09-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Annals of Occupational Hygiene
Abstract
Labour-intensive mines are numerous in several developing countries, but dust exposure in
such mines has not been adequately characterized. The aim of this study was to identify and
quantify the determinants of respirable dust and quartz exposure among underground coal
mine workers in Tanzania. Personal respirable dust samples (n = 134) were collected from
90 underground workers in June–August 2003 and July–August 2004. The development team
had higher exposure to respirable dust and quartz (geometric means 1.80 and 0.073 mg m 3
,
respectively) than the mining team (0.47 and 0.013 mg m 3
), the underground transport team
(0.14 and 0.006 mg m 3
) and the underground maintenance team (0.58 and 0.016 mg m 3
). The
percentages of samples above the threshold limit values (TLVs) of 0.9 mg m 3 for respirable
bituminous coal dust and 0.05 mg m 3 for respirable quartz, respectively, were higher in the
development team (55 and 47%) than in the mining team (20 and 9%). No sample for the
underground transport team exceeded the TLV. Drilling in the development was the work task
associated with the highest exposure to respirable dust and quartz (17.37 and 0.611 mg m 3
,
respectively). Exposure models were constructed using multiple regression model analysis, with
log-transformed data on either respirable dust or quartz as the dependent variable and tasks
performed as the independent variables. The models for the development section showed that
blasting and pneumatic drilling times were major determinants of respirable dust and quartz,
explaining 45.2 and 40.7% of the variance, respectively. In the mining team, only blasting
significantly determined respirable dust. Immediate actions for improvements are suggested
to include implementing effective dust control together with improved training and education
programmes for the workers. Dust and quartz in this underground mine should be controlled
by giving priority to workers performing drilling and blasting in the development sections of
the mine
Description
Keywords
Coal mine, Determinants, Quartz
Citation
Mamuya, S.H., Bråtveit, M., Mwaiselage, J., Mashalla, Y.J. and Moen, B.E., 2006. High exposure to respirable dust and quartz in a labour-intensive coal mine in Tanzania. Annals of occupational hygiene, 50(2), pp.197-204.