Occupational Health Surveillance for RCS in Mining Industry

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Occupational Health Surveillance
Name:
Institution:

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS).............................................................................................5
The Health Effects of RCS..............................................................................................................6
Silicosis........................................................................................................................................6
Chronic Obscure Pulmonary Disease (COPD)............................................................................8
Typical Risk assessment and health surveillance for RCS..............................................................9
Air-Monitoring...........................................................................................................................10
Health Surveillance Measures....................................................................................................11
A Design of Health Surveillance for RCS.....................................................................................12
1. Surveillance before Exposure to RCS.................................................................................12
a) Demographic Data...........................................................................................................12
b) Occupational History......................................................................................................13
c) Worker’s Medical History...............................................................................................13
d) Physical Examination......................................................................................................13
e) Investigation....................................................................................................................13
f) Recommendations and Medical Advice..........................................................................13
2. Health Surveillance during Exposure to RCS.....................................................................14
A) Personal Protective Gear................................................................................................14
b) Health Records and Data Inclusion.................................................................................14
c) Medical Examination......................................................................................................14
3. Surveillance at Termination of Employee in the occurrence of RCS....................................14
a) Collection of data............................................................................................................14
b) Final Medical Examination.............................................................................................15
Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................................15

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Executive Summary
Crystalline silicon has been associated with the burden of ill health among a large
population of Australian miners. This has been characterized by numerous deaths from silicosis
and other health complications related to RCS. However, the many decades of silicon
surveillance in Australia have partly led to a reduction in silica-related deaths. In fact, national
statistics show that there is a general decrease in silica-related deaths in Australia.
However, it is worth noting that the statistics may not be fully reliable and that RCS is
still a major risk to the health of many employees working in Australia’s mining industry.
Nonetheless, there are possibilities that such employees may experience RCS-related health
complications years after retiring from their mining jobs.
Scholastic studies have indicated that the most effective way of protecting mining
employees from RCS-related health complications is through risk assessment and management
facilitated by a comprehensive health surveillance. The health surveillance involves various
medical procedures which may protect the workers from the medical effects of RCS or reduce
the impact of their exposure to RCS. Hence, the primary objective of occupational health
protection programs in mining organizations should be to protect their workers from RCS health
hazards through health surveillance.

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Introduction
Nearly all, if not all occupations are associated with some kind health effects – also called
occupational health hazards. Therefore, human resource managers recommend health
surveillance as a method of detecting the potential health hazards that workers in such
occupations may be exposed to. According to Arcury et al (2012), an early detection of these
health hazards enables the implementation of interventions that facilitate the prevention of any
possible disease that the workers may be exposed to, or a reduction of the speed with which a
disease process may occur among the workers. This essay aims to identify appropriate health
surveillance for workers exposed to Silica in a mining quarry which currently employs less than
20 individuals. We acknowledge that while the mining quarry has established certain measures
(fogging systems, localized ventilation, and conveyor covers) to suppress the amount of dust the
miners are exposed to, the workers are still exposed to a high risk of contracting respiratory
diseases associated with silicon from the crushed rocks. Our main objective is to design a health
surveillance measure for workers in the quarry’s control room. In doing so, the paper will first
identify the health issues that the miners may be exposed to, before identifying a typical
surveillance measure and designing an health surveillance for them. The paper will also give a
detailed timeline for the implementation of the designed health surveillance measure before
making recommendations on the health surveillance issue.

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While exposure to silica is a major health risk for miners in Australia, there is a paucity
of knowledge of what entails proper health surveillance for such workers. Yet, Burgel et al
(2013), Chalupka et al (2013) and Grabinski (2015) provide evidence of an increasing trend of
Australian quarry miners contracting silicosis. Equally, statistics from Safe Work Australia and
Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) indicate that work-related injuries have
high-cost implications to the Australian economy, and occupational hazards related to the mining
industry have a significant contribution to the cost (Gochfeld et al 2007).
From time immemorial, miners exposed to silica have been burdened by occupational
health issues, with some of them dying from silicosis – a disease caused by a formation of scar
tissue in the lung as a result of constant exposure to silica (Hicks et al 2016). In fact, Hong et al
(2012) claim that silica has dangerous effects comparable to asbestos and that it has a potential of
causing serious health effects to miners in Australia.
Against that backdrop, there is a need for mining organizations to identify and establish
standardized health surveillance among workers exposed to silica so that they keep their workers
safe. Similarly, Hood et al (2007) argue that there is a need for such organizations to consider
establishing modern health surveillance approaches since there is a consistent change from
historical models of risk surveillance to more modern and effective models. Keeping up with
new techniques will facilitate a change from passive approaches to more active approaches to
health surveillance (Junaid et al 2016).

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Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS)
A major component of granite, sand, rock, soil and other minerals found in the earth’s
crust, crystalline silica dangerous substance consisting of silicon and oxygen (McCillagh et al
2012). The author further comments that silica may exist freely or combined with other elements
to form silicates. On the same note, McCauley et al (2012) indicate that the three common types
of crystalline silica (tridymite, cristobalite, and quartz) produce dangerous particles when
ground, drilled or cut; and that exposure to these particles (especially during mining) is a major
health hazard.
In Australia, exposure to RCS has been assigned a safety limit of 0.1 milligrams per
cubic meter (0.1mg/m3), meaning that an exposure beyond that limit would be considered a
health hazard (Maghsoudipour & Sarfaraz 2011). While some scholars claim that this limit is
low, Pak et al (2013) observe that part of the reason why the limit was set at that point is the
declining incidences of silicosis in Australia. However, the author mentions that despite a decline
in incidences of silicosis in Australia, exposure to RCS generally has adverse health effects on
most Australian miners. All in all, considering our case study, an RCS exposure of 0.15mg/m3
for primary operators and 0.51mg/m3 for secondary operator indicates a high health hazard
which needs immediate attention.
The Health Hazards of RCS
There is established evidence that RCS may expose miners to lung cancer, pulmonary
tuberculosis, silicosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Silicosis
Silicosis is part of a group of dust-related diseases called pneumoconiosis, majorly
characterized by non-malignant and non-neoplastic changes in lungs as a result of exposure to