CDC seeking comments: Specifications for Medical Examinations of Coal Miners

Link here. Excerpt:

'With this action, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in accordance with a final rule recently published by the Department of Labor's Mine Safety andHealth Administration (MSHA), is amending its regulations to establish standards for the approval of facilities that conduct spirometry examinations and to require that all coal mine operators submit a plan for the provision of spirometry and X-ray examinations to all surface and underground coal miners.
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All mining work generates fine particles of dust in the air. Coal miners who inhale excessive dust are known to develop a group of diseases of the lungs and airways, including silicosis, and Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis (CWP), and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. (1) To address such threats to the U.S. coal mining workforce, the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act was enacted in 1969 (Pub. L. 91-173) and amended by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Pub. L. 95-164, 30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) (Mine Act). The statutes included an enforceable 2 milligrams per cubic meter limit on respirable dust exposure during underground coal mine work (30 U.S.C. 842(b)(2)). (2) The science available at that time indicated that enforcement of this limit would greatly reduce the development of CWP, but could not ensure that all miners would be protected from developing disabling or lethal disease.'