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Miners with black lung are compensated |
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Workers compensation laws pay miners with black lung disease for their disability
By KATHRYN HERR Reporting Spring 2004 |
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HARRISBURG Pa. – Occupational lung disease is the number one work-related illness in the U.S. according to the American Lung Association. Miners who inhale black coal dust over many years can develop black lung disease. “Coal miners are covered from head to toe in black coal dust after working in the mines; imagine that in a person’s lungs,” said Robert Bachman, owner of Rhen Coal Company of Schuylkill County. The danger of coal dust inhalation is less today due to the technological advancements in machinery and safety equipment. However, people who worked in hazardous conditions for many years prior are now unable to work for a living due to their disease. Retired coal miners are most affected by the disease. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 provides cash benefits for coal miners who are totally disabled due to pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease. The law also provides benefits for widows of coal miners who were receiving these benefits at the time of their death. Disability benefits payments are made by the Bureau of Workmen’s Compensation of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. There are many provisions and legal government stipulations. Every coal miner’s illness is different due to different levels of exposure and body reactions to inhalation. Many coal miners are not receiving their benefits as they should be due to government regulations. “Getting black lung benefits and holding onto them has become a nightmare for most workers who need them,” said The Militant newsweekly in 1998. According to the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) only about seven percent of miners who applied for black lung benefits have received them since 1981. About 70 percent received benefits in the early 1970s. UMWA reported 6,000 new black lung claims filed each year. In order to collect disability social security, a miner must prove that he is not able to work due to black lung disease and that the illness is solely due to working in the coal mines. This presents a problem for coal miners who smoke cigarettes. Smoking greatly increases the chances of developing black lung disease and other related lung problems. Smokers are sometimes ineligible for social security disability because their disease is not solely attributed to their work related hazards. Black lung activists and organizations have been working for years to make changes in the mine fields and to get benefits for black lung disease. Many groups rally for benefits on numerous occasions a year. The most important day for these rallies is Mitchell’s Day, April 1. Mitchell’s Day is a celebration honoring John Mitchell. Mitchell became the UMWA president in 1898 and made vast improvements for coal miners’ conditions. One of the strongest forces for black lung benefits are widows of miners who have died from black lung disease. Two widows organized a 400-mile walk from Charleston, West Virginia to Uniontown, Pennsylvania for a rally, then to Washington D.C. to demand black lung benefits in 2002 reported The Militant newsweekly, 2002. This walk was supported by the UMWA, National Black Lung Association, and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition. Coal miners held a black lung strike in 1969, which resulted in the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. At this time there were only four known cases of black lung benefits compensations in West Virginia. The Pennsylvania insurance commissioner approved a 21 percent decrease in worker’s compensation rates for coal companies in 1998, according to The Militant in 1998. Coal Age, a coal industry business magazine, reported an $11 million savings of worker’s compensation payments as a direct result of this decrease. Governor Thomas Ridge claimed that the rate reduction would help Pennsylvania’s coal mining companies become more competitive with the global market. Coal workers have been protesting the government actions taken to minimize worker’s compensation payments since this decision. The Militant reported big name coal companies in West Virginia had refused to pay $100 million in premiums into the Worker’s Compensation Fund in 1998. Coal mines today are, by government regulations, to be equipped with ventilation and safety equipment. “Big Coal Bosses” are at fault here because they do not provide the necessary equipment to keep coal dust inhalation at a safe level. “Without good ventilation you can hardly breathe. No wonder people are dying,” said Bachman. “I’ve seen some of my buddies coughing up blood and strapped to an oxygen machine. I hope I don’t end up like that.” Bachman does his best to make his mine as safe as possible, but said he can’t say the same for everyone else. It is possible for a miner to pass out due to a build up of gases said Hayden Shenk, a certified coal miner. “Ventilation is key, because even if dangerous gases don’t accumulate, dust levels will get you in the end,” said Shenk. Some mines are union mines and some are not. This plays a big part in safety. Union mines are constantly under the scope of mine inspectors. Any miners working under a union can freely report a problem to government inspectors about mismanagement of safety. “Nonunion miners who complain are often fired and blackballed, which makes it almost impossible to get another job in a nearby mine, one miner said,” according to The Militant in 1998. In an attempt to stop black lung disease, in early years of development, some doctors worked side by side with coal miners to help them protect themselves. Many of these doctors formed the Physicians for Miner’s Health and Safety. This organization is instrumental in representing the medical facts surrounding black lung disease. Using their medical knowledge, two of these doctors, Hawey Wells and Donald Rasmussen, aided in the black lung movement, providing medical proof that the coal dust was seriously harmful. This was the beginning of the black lung benefits struggle between coal companies, government officials, and blue collar coal miners. Black lung disease is the common name for coal workers’ pneumoconiosis. It is a lung disease of older or retired coal miners, caused by inhalation coal dust. This disease takes many years of coal dust inhalation to build up and causes breathing problems. Build up of coal dust will thicken and cause scarring. This makes the lungs less able to supply oxygen with blood. Some with black lung disease develop other problems as well, such as emphysema and cor pulmonale. This disease can be fatal. Approximately 4.5 percent of coal miners are affected. About 0.2 percent have the most severe form of the disease called massive fibrosis, which is scarring of lung tissue. Between 1968 and 1992 more than 59,000 deaths were attributed to black lung disease according to the American Lung Association. In 1992 Pennsylvania had the highest number of black lung disease related deaths. The American Lung Association reported 17,315 lung cancer deaths attributable to work-related inhalation of carcinogens in 1998. With proper ventilation and safety equipment, coal mines do not pose a threat of black lung disease today. Many years ago these safety precautions were not available and black lung disease was inevitable. All stories in this magazine are the intellectual property of the individual authors. You may email comments about this story to: kah928@psu.edu
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