Dust respirator usage at the Pneumoconiosis Field Research Collieries

In recent years the use of dust respirators has increased and the introduction of the new Dust Regulations could make their use more widespread. In the assessment of individual dust exposures.no allowance, until now, has been made for the protection afforded by the wearing of a dust respirator. Consequently this study was undertaken at P.F.R. collieries to evaluate the use of respirators among faceworkers and to estimate the degree of real protection effected by casual wearing during a shift. The results show that the standards of issue and swervicing of respirators and the keeping of records varied considerably among this group of collieries. During spot checks at collieries on average 6 per cent of the underground population carried dust respirators and environmental measurements showed that faceworkers could reduce their real dust exposure by up to 50 per cent by wearing their respirators during periods of peak dust concentration.