Haul Road Dust Control is a vital element to the smooth undertaking of a mining company. Not simply with regards to security but also to the workers health. Surface mining operations employ huge off-road haul trucks extensively to transport material on mining properties. Former research, using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) emissions factors for unpaved haul roads, has exposed that haul trucks create the majority of dust emissions from surface mining sites, accounting for just about 78%-97% of total dust emissions. This is yet greater with low quality haul road dust control programs.
Observations of dust emissions from haul trucks demonstrate that if the dust emissions are uncontrolled, they can become a safety hazard by means of impairing the operator’s visibility. This increases the probability for haul truck accidents. On the other hand, the greatest long-term health risk of dust generated from hauling operations is due to breathing of the respirable dust [median diameter <4 micrometers (?m)] and thoracic dust, which is comparable to the EPA’s characterization of PM10 [particulate matter with a median diameter <10 ?m]. Exposure to respirable dust has always been considered a health risk on surface mining operations, specially if silica dust is there.
There are two governmental acts that police the air quality designed for mining operations: the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the Clean Air Act of 1970. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 established the limits for dust in the work place for healthiness and safety purposes. The Clean Air Act of 1970 regulates air emissions from facilities from an environmental perspective. Characterizing fugitive dust emissions from haul trucks may help mine operators grasp the effects of exposure.
The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 recognized a limit for coal respirable dust of 2 mg/m3 for coal excavation staff. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) enacts and enforces pit worker safety and health standards to alleviate mine employee injuries in addition to occupational diseases. If silica is encountered at some point in the sampling procedure then the applicable respirable dust standard is reduced to the share of 10 divided by the measurement of quartz in the dust. In lieu of non-coal mine staff, the appropriate standard is the respirable dust standard of 10 divided by the sum of the quartz percentage added to 2. Both of these dust standards are intended to limit worker respirable crystalline silica (quartz) contact to 0.1 mg/m3 or fewer for the work shift. Compliance with these dust standards is expected to lower a worker’s risk of job-related lung infection over an average life expectancy. In addition, MSHA’s nuisance dust maximum value (total dust) for non-coal miners is 10 mg/m3.
Tags: dust control, dust emissions, fugitive dust control, haul road dust control, road dust control