Coal remains one of the principal sources of energy for the United States, and the nation has been a world leader in coal production for more than 100 years. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration projections to 2050, coal is expected to be an important energy resource for the United States. Additionally, metallurgical coal used in steel production remains an important national commodity. However, coal production, like all other conventional mining activities, creates dust in the workplace. Respirable coal mine dust (RCMD) comprises the size fraction of airborne particles in underground mines that can be inhaled by miners and deposited in the distal airways and gas-exchange region of the lung. Occupational exposure to RCMD has long been associated with lung diseases common to the coal mining industry, including coal workers' pneumoconiosis, also known as "black lung disease." Monitoring and Sampling Approaches to Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures compares the monitoring technologies and sampling protocols currently used or required by the United States, and in similarly industrialized countries for the control of RCMD exposure in underground coal mines. This report assesses the effects of rock dust mixtures and their application on RCMD measurements, and the efficacy of current monitoring technologies and sampling approaches. It also offers science-based conclusions regarding optimal monitoring and sampling strategies to aid mine operators' decision making related to reducing RCMD exposure to miners in underground coal mines.

As part of its continuing program in protecting the health and safety of the nation's coal miners, the Bureau of Mines, Department of the Interior, presented on November 3-4, 1969, a Symposium on Respirable Coal Mine Dust. The Symposium was cosponsored by the American Mining Congress, the National Coal Association, and the National Independent Coal Operator's Association. Within recent years it has become evident that a large number of our coal miners develop a severe occupational respiratory disease commonly referred to as "black lung," but more appropriately designated as "coal worker's pneumoconiosis." Studies in the United States as well as in European countries clearly demonstrate that prevention of the disease is related to the control and suppression of respirable coal mine dust. This Symposium dealt with the various engineering methods of controlling dust in underground coal mines including ventialation, water suppression, machine design, and dust collection; and a discussion of respirators and life support systems. The merits of these various procedures and their potential application to underground coal mining were examined. In every case attempts were made to secure outstanding talent in each of the major areas discussed. The proceedings of the Symposium should constitue a reference on current technology for dust control. The Symposium helped to delineate those areas where additional research is needed and highlighted the necessity for concentrated efforts by both industry and Government for intensive research and investigative programs on engineering procedures to control respirable coal mine dust within prescribed hygienic limits. Hopefully, research will move so rapidly that within a reasonably short time this publication will be out of date in terms of dust control technology

Purpose of symposium: "To provide an open forum for labor, government, and other interested parties to exchange information on the control of respirable coal mine dust and to identify current problems and possible solutions."

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.