Retour

Theoretically, regulations could have ended this practice and the disablement and death of numerous workers. But in the real world... nope.

As with sarscov2 et al, respirators would end it easily and cheaply *today*. Pity then that the companies, the regulators, nor the suffering workers themselves are interested/willing.

The increasing hazard of black lung disease facing coal miners https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-increasing-hazard-of-black-lung-disease-facing-coal-miners/

> The Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, has proposed a new rule that would lower miners' exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

> But the proposed rule, he says, may change nothing: "It may not, because there's not any teeth in what they're doing to make the companies comply with this."

> "Roscoe" (not his real name) is a 34-year-old working coal miner who fears that he already has black lung. He contends that the mines routinely break the rules, and that if his real name came out, he's probably never have a job in the coal industry again.

> Roscoe explains what happens when an inspector comes on mine property: "Everybody's crossing their T's and dotting their I's. Everything's done right. When we're underground, and an inspector pulls up on that property, before he ever gets out of that vehicle, the dispatcher calls underground and lets every section know that there's an inspector on the property. So, by the time the inspector comes up to the section, everything's right."

> "That's been going on since I've been in the coal mine. They keep raising these dust laws and these ventilation laws for these coal companies, thinking that it's gonna help this black lung matter. But it's not."

@maskup