Exposure assessment for nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide in German hard coal mining

Abstract

Especially for the diesel engine drivers, exposure can be regarded as rather high, in particular, when compared to recommended limits by SCOEL and MAK, though the exposures have been in line with the enforced German occupational exposure limits. Whether this exposure situation has caused adverse health effects will be investigated epidemiologically.

Effect of dust exposure and nitrogen oxides on lung function parameters of German coalminers: a longitudinal study applying GEE regression 1974–1998

“…The output contained individual, annual data on the number of shifts and number of underground shifts, the number of shifts for the ten activities carried out most often in the calendar year, the annual cumulative levels of respirable coal mine and respirable quartz dust exposure in mg £ number of shifts/m 3 (mgS/m 3 ). Using the JEM developed for the nitrogen oxides (Dahmann et al 2009), all study participants were allocated to concentration values per exposure year. All exposure data were combined into one Wle, which contained the information on each study participant per calendar year.…”

“…Nitrogen oxide exposure Details of the nitrogen oxide exposure estimation were given elsewhere (Dahmann et al 2009). In summary, for locomotive and overhead monorail operators, 1.35 ppm NO and 0.21 ppm NO 2 have been determined, respectively, to be the rough current average values of exposure during an 8 h-shift.…”

“…To estimate the baseline exposure, as well as the exposure by locomotive and overhead monorail operators and blasting personnel, the NO and NO 2 concentrations were measured in 2007. To estimate the individual historical cumulative NO and NO 2 exposure, a job exposure matrix (JEM) was developed that contains concentration data on NO and NO 2 for each job category (diesel engine operators, blasting specialists, blasting crew members, others) and each calendar year since 1974 (Dahmann et al 2009). Former German 8 h-threshold limit values (used for comparison reasons only) were set at 25 ppm for NO and at 5 ppm for NO 2 (Technische Regeln GefahrstoVe TRGS 900 2000).…”

“…Accordingly, dust-related health eVects have been veriWed, such as detrimental inXuences on lung function and the development of chronic bronchitis (AttWeld et al 2007; Morfeld and Piekarski 1998). Underground use of diesel vehicles and blasting have exposed coal miners to oxides of nitrogen as well (Dahmann et al 2009), which can also impair lung function and cause symptoms of respiratory illness (Latza et al 2009;Schindler et al 1998;US EPA 2008).…”

“…Dust exposures were individually documented through a computer system launched in the mid 1970s. Long-term nitrogen oxide exposure was recently evaluated, especially for diesel engine drivers and miners in blasting advance (Dahmann et al 2009). Since the 1950s, all coal miners have taken part in occupational medical exams with lung function tests roughly every 2 years.…”