NIOSHTIC-2 No. 20022690


Inaccuracy of Area Sampling for Measuring the Dust Exposure of Mining Machine Operators in Coal Mines

February 2002

Publication first page
Document cover page
Click the image to enlarge

This study examines the accuracy of area sampling for measuring the dust exposure of mining machine operators in coal mines. The specific objective of this research was to find locations where an area sampler might work better than earlier studies have indicated. The results show that fixed-location area sampling cannot accurately predict the dust exposure of a machine operator, even when the best fixed location is sought, the fixed location is quite close to the operator and the bias due to the dust concentration gradient is corrected. Industrial hygenists have known for many years that area sampling is unsuitable for measuring air containment exposures in the workplace. Near contaminant sources, the dilution air and the contaminants are not evenly mixed. Therefore, when workers are near contaminant sources, exposure measurements must be taken from the worker's breathing zone to be accurate.

Author(s):Kissell-FN, Sacks-HK
Reference:Min Eng 2002 Feb 54(2):33-39

   ioasf (PDF, 799 KB)


A link above requires the Adobe Acrobat® Reader.
You can download a reader for free from Adobe through our Accessibility/Tools page.
Get Adobe Reader
Page last updated: September 17, 2008
Content Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Mining Division