Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis Select Committee (2016)

INQ‐CWP AIOH Submission ‐ Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP) Select Committee.

Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) is a long latency occupational disease, which can be entirely prevented by effective control of airborne dust.

Monitoring of personal dust exposure and the effectiveness of controls is the cornerstone of CWP risk assessment, and currently the only means of estimating future risk.

Health surveillance provides an important feedback loop to ensure the adequacy of workplace exposure controls and Exposure Standards. Health surveillance may also assist in guarding against a false sense of security regarding the effectiveness of worker protection.

Certified Occupational Hygienists (COH)® are uniquely qualified to plan and evaluate interventions aimed at minimising dust exposure.

The AIOH notes that suitable and effective technologies and expertise to control dust exist in the mining industry. All stakeholders in the industry must continue to work together to anticipate, identify and characterise dust hazards; then assess and control them.

That said the re‐identification of CWP is sobering evidence of previous systems failure that present an opportunity to prevent future disease. Given the lag time for the development of CWP, there is now also a need to understand future risk.

The AIOH recommends that regulation requires that operators to develop and implement an evidence‐based dust management plan to control dust exposure in mines.