In 1974, technical personnel from the Department of the Interior's Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration visited the United Kingdom to discuss and observe procedures used to assess and control respirable dust generated during underground coal mining operatons. This report discusses the dust control practices and trends in research that have potential application in the United States.
The objective of this study was to prioritize the potential risks nuisance and biologically active dusts and fumes present in metal and nonmetal mines. This was accomplished by ranking numerical values derived from a matrix formula calculation that took into account dose, mine population, and sampling size. Data used in these calculations were obtained from the Mine Inspection Data Analysis System (MIDAS). The dusts determined to have the highest risk potential were quartz respirable particulates, mine dust, cristobalite respirable particulates, welding fume components, and nuisance respirable dust. Other dusts and fumes that were not ranked in this study, owing to small sampling population, but which show a potential risk, include asbestos, talc, hydrogen cyanide, organic compound dusts, arsenic, metal dusts, and metal and nonmetal fumes.
This book has been written as a reference and text for engineers, researchers, teachers and students who have an interest in the planning and control of the environment in underground openings. While directed primarily to underground mining operations, the design procedures are also applicable to other complex developments of subsurface space such as nuclear waste repositories, commercial accommodation or vehicular networks. The book will, therefore, be useful for mining, civil, mechanical, and heating, ventilating and air-conditioning engineers involved in such enterprises. The chapters on airborne pollutants highlight means of measurement and control as well as physiological reaction. These topics will be of particular interest to industrial hygienists and students of industrial medicine. One of the first technical applications of digital computers in the world's mining industries was for ventilation network analysis. This occurred during the early 1960s. However, it was not until low cost but powerful personal computers proliferated in engineering offices during the 1980s that the full impact of the computer revolution was realized in the day-to-day work of most mine ventilation engineers. This book reflects the changes in approach and design procedures that have been brought about by that revolution. While the book is organized into six parts, it encompasses three broad areas.
