CORESafety TV (February 2021): Innovations in Dust Particle Monitoring
Welcome to the February edition of CORESafety TV — the online video program from the National Mining Association.
One of the greatest hazards in mining is the exposure of miners to elevated levels of toxic aerosols, including respirable dust, diesel particulate matter and crystalline silica.
Two types of monitoring – personal and environmental – are often used to measure and quantify the degree of exposure at a mine site. But it often takes weeks to get the results back after dust samples are collected and sent away for laboratory analysis.
CORESafety member company Peabody is currently exploring a new way to collect and examine these types of samples in real time, making the analytical process much faster.
In this new episode of CORESafety TV, we interview Matt Pedersen-Howard who is Peabody’s Vice President of Health, Safety, Security and Environment.
We also talk with Jiaxi Fang, the CEO and co-founder of Applied Particle Technology (APT), which is the company that has developed a real-time solution for minute-by-minute testing of dust samples.
Fang and the APT team are piloting their dust monitoring technology on site at Peabody’s El Segundo Mine in New Mexico.
Matt Pedersen-Howard emphasizes that APT’s dust sampling technology isn’t intended to replace the regulatory approved monitoring process that is required by MSHA and other agencies over the eight-hour shift durations.
Instead, it is a way to zero in on what’s happening at specific points during the shifts in order to help identify when, where and how the higher dust exposures are taking place.
With that information, Peabody (and other mining companies) can make decisions that are perhaps more timely and more accurate on how to better protect their miners from dust exposure.
Finally, in this February 2021 episode, we also take a look at CORESafety’s Module #10 – Resources and Planning.
CORESafety RESOURCES
- CORESafety TV (February 2021 episode) – click here.
- CORESafety TV (January 2021 episode) – go here.
- CORESafety Module #10 Highlights – click here.
- CORESafety Module #10 Workbook Materials – go here.
- CORESafety website – go here.
THIS MONTH’S FEATURED COMPANIES
- On February 9, 2021