Mining dust as a health threat to employees of extraction departments of coal mines
Authors:   Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Mocek Piotr 
Published: February 2024

Purpose: The presented article is empirical in nature and deals with the issue of human resource management in the mining work environment in the face of health risks for workers exposed to the harmful effects of coal mine dust at the workplace. Its purpose is to draw the attention of the management of coal mines in Poland to the growing problem of the increase in the incidence of pneumoconiosis among miners and the obligations that fall on the employer and management in connection with the need to fulfill the provisions of Article 207 of the Labour Code (Labour Code) and the changing European legislation (Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2017/2398 of December 12, 2017). The article presents the results of a health study of miners employed in the mining divisions of mine X exposed to the risk of harmful dusts and SiO2 chemicals contained in mine dust. The impetus for the study in question was the increasing incidence of occupational diseases among workers in Polish coal mines in recent years, among which new cases of pneumoconiosis predominated. In 2022, pneumoconiosis of miners accounted for 92.1% of all diagnosable occupational diseases in the PKD's economic activity section B - mining and quarrying. The second factor prompting the research topic was the amendment of the regulation on chemicals, their mixtures, agents or technological processes with carcinogenic or mutagenic effects in the work environment introduced on January 24, 2020, including crystalline silica - the respirable fraction formed during work - among the agents with carcinogenic or mutagenic effects. Design/methodology/approach: A study of the assessment of the prevailing dust hazard and the frequency of respiratory lesions among workers in the mining departments of mine X exposed to the harmful effects of mine dust as a by-product of the manufacturing process was carried out using the following methods: individual dosimetry, infrared spectrometry, directional interview, diagnostic tests and spirometry. Findings: The results made it possible to identify the workplaces with the highest exposure to harmful effects of coal dust and to recognize the effects of this action in the form of respiratory lesions in 28.6% of the miners of mine X examined, who had not previously reported health complaints. Research limitations/implications: Health examinations of coal mine workers are a sensitive issue and one that is reluctantly raised by mine management, union organizations and the workers themselves. The inadequacy of Polish legislation, which, in the event of the diagnosis of symptoms of an occupational disease, guarantees an employee to keep his or her previous salary as a result of transfer to another job for only 6 months (Article 230 of the Labor Code), causes employees to hide their health status until they are eligible for retirement and are reluctant to undergo earlier diagnostic examinations. The condition for making the data available for the purposes of the above article was to guarantee the complete anonymity of the subjects and the workplace, which is in line with the policy of the Silesian University of Technology, which guarantees the anonymity of the data obtained in circular letters addressed to the Mining Companies. Practical implications: Recognized new cases of pneumoconiosis incidence among surveyed employees of mining divisions indicated the necessity of changing the current approach of employers and managers to the issue of measuring harmful factors at workplaces and the necessity of expanding preventive examinations of miners to include capillary blood gasometry, peripheral blood morphology, low-dose high-resolution computed tomography allowing scrinig of lung cancer. The proper approach of mine management and health and safety services to miners' health issues should improve the financial condition of mining companies and mines by reducing the occupational morbidity of the protection of employees, who are the pillar of the company's efficiency. Social implications: A review of the literature and the results obtained show that the problem of the incidence of pneumoconiosis among coal mine miners not only in Poland is again a growing social problem, resulting in an increase in occupational morbidity rates and incurred social costs related to the loss of physical ability to perform work by miners and the need for their treatment. On the other hand, the consequences of long-term exposure of workers to harmful factors leads to occupational diseases, the consequence of which is often a change of job and loss of part of the workers' wages, so it would be advisable to consider public consultations in this area in order to develop new legal regulations to increase worker protection. Originality/value: The article is directed to the management of coal mines and health and safety services. It presents the results of environmental measurements and diagnostic tests of miners carried out in real time, to which access is difficult. In addition, the article presents solutions for early diagnosis of respiratory health disorders and better management of human resources and protection of miners' health as a superior value. Keywords: mine, mining division, pneumoconiosis, mine dust, occupational disease, diagnostic testing, spirometry. Category of the paper: Research paper.