Evaluation of instruments for dust monitoring in United Kingdom coal mines

The United Kingdom Respirable Dust Regulations for underground coal mines a re currently under review; new regulations that are under development will introduce new dust measurement methods and monitoring strategies. Research was undertaken to evaluate instruments for the monitoring of dust and quartz in United Kingdom coal mines and to determine current levels of personal dust exposure in the industry. The aim of the research was to iden tify instruments capable of being deployed more flexibly in a range of mine workings. The CIP10 respirable dust sampler, developed by CHERCHAR, was id entified as a suitable instrument for both personal and fixed-point measure ments of respirable dust and quartz. In fixed-point measurements the CIP10 results were highly correlated with co-located results obtained with the MR E 113a horizontal elutriator-the instrument stipulated in the current Unite d Kingdom regulations. As the CIP10 is small, light and has a long battery life, it can be used for fall-shift personal dust monitoring in both large and small mines. Personal respirable dust exposures measured during an underground survey th at formed part of the research were lognormally distributed with a median v alue of 1.8 mg/m(3) and a geometric standard deviation of approximately two . There was limited evidence of higher mean exposures for certain mine-work ers. In general, personal exposure measurements did not differ greatly from fixed-point measurements. The introduction of personal monitoring in Unite d Kingdom coal mines will, however, enable the most highly exposed individu al mine-workers to be identified and dust control measures to be directed i n a cost-effective manner. Personal monitoring was found to be particularly useful in the assessment of localized dust concentrations in smaller mines and in the development areas of larger mines, where representative fixed-p oint sampling can be problematic.