With more than 12,000 mines employing more than 300,000 miners across the country in every state, operations include sand and gravel pits, coal mines, copper and silver mines, cement plants and more.

In nearly all mining environments, silica is present.

One of MSHA’s top priorities is finalizing and implementing a new silica rule in April to better protect coal and metal/nonmetal miners from exposure to toxic silica dust, so they do not have to suffer from “entirely preventable debilitating and deadly occupational diseases like black lung and Silicosis,” according to MSHA spokesman Egan Reiche, director of Media and Editorial Services in the U.S. Labor Department Office of Public Affairs.

Allowable Silica Exposure Levels

The Department of Labor in late June announced MSHA’s proposal to amend current federal standards to better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards related to exposure to respirable crystalline silica, or silica dust. The proposed rule change, formally made in mid-July, would ensure miners have at least the same level of protections as workers in other industries.

The proposed rule, which has undergone public hearings and input sessions that ended in September, “would require mine operators to maintain miners’ Permissible Exposure Limit to respirable crystalline silica at or below 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air for a full shift exposure, calculated as an eight-hour time weighted average,” according to a MSHA news release.

The current rule sets the standard at 100 micrograms per cubic meter during an eight-hour time weighted average.

“If a miner’s exposure exceeds the limit, the proposed rule would require operators to take immediate corrective actions to come into compliance,” the release from MSHA states.

According to the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda from the Office of Management and Budget, April is the expected month the new silica regulations and accompanying changes are to be finalized. MSHA officials said they could not comment on the details of possible amendments to the rule until all public comments and input are considered.

MSHA reports that unhealthy levels of silica, a carcinogen and exposures over time cause severe illnesses, including silicosis; progressive massive fibrosis; non-malignant respiratory disease, such as emphysema; kidney disease; and lung cancer.

In addition, exposure to mixed coal mine dust that contains respirable crystalline silica can lead to the development of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis or CWP, commonly known as black lung disease; multi-dust pneumoconiosis; and progressive massive fibrosis, the most serious form of black lung.

Reason for Rule Proposal

“The purpose of this proposed rule is simple: prevent more miners from suffering from debilitating and deadly occupational illnesses by reducing their exposure to silica dust. Silica overexposures have a real-life impact on a miner’s health,” Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson states in the release.

“Miners like a crusher operator at a California sand and gravel mine or a roof bolter in a West Virginia coal mine should never be forced to choose between preserving their health and providing for themselves and their families. This proposed rule furthers the Mine Act’s clear instruction to prioritize miners’ health.”

Williamson, head of MSHA, also attended and spoke at the 2023 National Coalition of Black Lung and Respiratory Disease Clinics or NCBLRDC Conference, “Moving Mountains to Fight Black Lung” from Sept. 27-29 in Johnson City. Jonesville, Virginia-based Stone Mountain Health Services hosted the event.

The silica proposal also includes other requirements to protect miners’ health — such as exposure sampling — and medical surveillance at no cost for metal and nonmetal miners. It would replace existing outdated requirements for respiratory protection with a standard that reflects the latest advances in respiratory protection technologies and practices.

According to information from MSHA spokesman Reiche, MSHA’s proposed rule would ensure that all miners have “at least the same level of protections as workers in other industries, with a silica exposure limit in line with what OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has set to protect the workers it has jurisdiction over.”

MSHA estimates the annualized compliance cost of the proposed rule is approximately $58 million, slightly less than half the estimated annualized net benefit of approximately $118 million.

MSHA estimates the proposed rule would result in a total of 799 lifetime avoided deaths and 2,809 lifetime avoided illnesses.

Miners Health Matters Campaign

MSHA “works to prevent mining injuries, illnesses and fatalities, and promote safe and healthful workplaces for all U.S. miners. The agency name and its mission statement make clear that protecting both miners’ safety and health must be a priority,” according to online information from the agency.

“Through the Miner Health Matters campaign, MSHA will conduct enforcement and outreach efforts to ensure miners working in potentially dangerous mining environments take proper precautions to limit exposures to silica and other dangerous toxins. And MSHA personnel will continue to directly communicate with miners about their rights and the importance of protecting their health whenever we have the opportunity.”

MSHA is working for miners health in the following ways:

• Under 30 Code of Federal Regulations Part 90, coal miners who have already developed pneumoconiosis or black lung can exercise rights that allow them to continue working in healthier parts of the mine. MSHA will work to reduce barriers that may prevent coal miners from choosing to exercise their Part 90 rights.

• In June 2022, MSHA announced a Silica Enforcement Initiative to better protect miners from health hazards related to repeated overexposures of silica. “The initiative includes inspections, sampling, compliance assistance and direct conversations with miners about their rights to report health hazards,” MSHA information online states.

• Protecting miners from the risks associated with COVID-19 is especially difficult in underground mines and places where miners were traveling and working closely and without adequate ventilation. MSHA developed coronavirus guidance and hosted vaccine clinics for miners and their families. These clinics have also provided hundreds of masks and COVID tests in mining communities.

• The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Aug. 16, 2022, helped to secure federal black lung benefits for miners with black lung disease and their families.

Although it is under the jurisdiction of the Office of Workers Compensation programs instead of MSHA, Reich said this is important to black lung miners because the extension permanently extends the excise tax on underground and surface mined coal, a major funding source for the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.

“Generations of coal miners who sacrificed so much to power our country can rest assured that their benefits are not in jeopardy,” an online posting of MSHA states.

Godfrey Gives Need for Action

According to Christopher J. Godfrey, director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs that is a sister organization of sorts to MSHA, a recent study from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health or NIOSH and the University of Illinois Chicago found that modern coal miners have work exposure health issues.

Particularly miners in Central Appalachia are more likely than their predecessors to die from black lung, COPD, which is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.

The research used data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Federal Black Lung Program, which he said is described as “the largest existing study on causes of mortality in U.S. coal miners,” Godfrey said.

The study, which also used data from the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program at NIOSH and the National Death Index, found that rates of black lung disease and other lung conditions are increasing in miners. These trends are especially concerning in the Central Appalachian states of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.

“Moving forward, we will continue to work with NIOSH to support important research on black lung disease,” Godfrey said.

“We will continue to partner with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Black Lung Clinics Program to help inform miners about their ability to file a claim for benefits.

“Lastly, we will continue to find new ways to better serve miners with black lung disease and their families, including by collaborating with states in coal country, when possible.”