BACKGROUND: Mining workers are exposed to a range of respiratory hazards, including respirable dust. While exposure to respirable crystalline silica in the mining industry has been found to be common, less is known about trends in measured levels of exposure to respirable dust overall. METHODS: This study analyzed 109,442 personal respirable dust measurements collected from Western Australian mines between 1986 and 2014. Data were sourced from an industry-wide monitoring database and modeled using mixed-effects regression, adjusting for sampling characteristics (year of measurement, duration, reason), mine type, and job title. Differences in trends over time between mine types were also examined. RESULTS: in 2014). Temporal trends varied by mine type, with a steeper decline in exposure levels seen in exploration activities in particular. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to respirable dust in Western Australian mines has decreased substantially over the past three decades, although higher levels persist in some jobs and activities. While this suggests that existing controls have been broadly effective, the presence of these higher exposures indicates that further measures may be required.
Carey et al. (Sun,) studied this question.