From the History of the Organizational Protection of Coal-miners of the Ostrava-Karvina Region (OKR) against Consequences Related to the Risk of Fibrogenic Dust

Summary

The authors have a long-term experience with providing technical and organizational prevention against conse- quences related to the risk of fibrogenic dust and with assessing professional diseases at risk working sites in the Ostrava-Karviná Region. In their paper, they review the history of the development and step-by-step implementation of the technical and organizational prevention at mining work sites of the Morava and Silesia industrial agglomeration and they analyze results of comprehensive preventive measures. A step-by-step decrease of the number of miners at risk work sites, consistent implementation of technical prevention leading to a lower amount of the mine dust in the working environment and especially the follow-up and management of the exposure of miners by means of defining the highest acceptable exposure and its consistent application contribute to the significant decrease of newly diagnosed coal-miner pneumoconioses. These effective organizational measures were implemented by the workers of the Ostrava Regional Hygienic Station – specialists on mining work. The paper will be presented at the 4^th Congress of occupational diseases with the international participation in Luhačovice in October 2008.

Key words:
coal-miner, highest acceptable exposure, technical and organizational prevention, coal-miner pneumoconiosis