High Exposure to Respirable Dust and Quartz in a Labour-intensive Coal Mine in Tanzania

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. Pers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Annals of occupational hygiene 2006-03, Vol.50 (2), p.197-204
Main Authors: MAMUYA, SIMON H. D., BRÅTVEIT, MAGNE, MWAISELAGE, JULIUS, MASHALLA, YOHANA J. S., MOEN, BENTE E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air
Biological and medical sciences
Chemical and industrial products toxicology. Toxic occupational diseases
coal mine
Coal Mining
determinants
Dust - analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental pollutants toxicology
Humans
Inhalation Exposure - analysis
Inorganic dusts (pneumoconiosises) and organic dusts (byssinosis etc.)
Linear Models
Medical sciences
Occupational Exposure - analysis
Occupational Health
Quartz
respirable dust
Tanzania
Threshold Limit Values
Toxicology
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0003-4878
1475-3162
1475-3162
DOI:10.1093/annhyg/mei052