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Category: Corporate Governance / Coal / Occupational Health and Safety

1,000 Queensland coal workers could have black lung: union

Thursday, 3 Mar 2016 17:45:51 | Matt Peacock

Hume Coal will submit plans to the NSW government next week, to build an underground mine in the Southern Highlands.

On the eve of a Senate inquiry, the Queensland coal mining union has estimated up to 1,000 coal miners could have black lung.

Key points:

  • Unions say many miners may developed the disease after retirement
  • One miner says his X-rays have been lost
  • Queensland's Mines Department admitted last year 150,000 X-rays were still awaiting database entry

Black lung, or coal miner's pneumoconiosis, is caused by long-term inhalation of coal dust and in severe cases can be fatal. It was thought to have been eradicated from Australian coalfields decades ago, but recently more than six cases have been identified in Queensland.

"We're projecting that we're going to have 16 per cent of current and retired coal mine workers with pneumoconiosis," said Jason Hill, the CFMEU's industry health and safety representative.

The union is concerned many ex-miners may have developed the disease after retirement, and gone undiagnosed.

Black lung can continue to progress after coal dust exposure ceases, and severe symptoms can emerge up to 15 years later.

Since 1993, by law all Queensland coal miners undergo pre-employment chest X-rays, with another at least once every subsequent five years. Their X-rays must be sent to the Mines Department for review.

What is black lung?

Pneumoconiosis is a potentially fatal disease caused by long exposure to coal dust, more commonly known as "black lung" because those with the disease have lungs that look black instead of a healthy pink.

Black lung most often stems from working in the coal industry or in the manufacturing of graphite or man-made carbon products and has no known cure.

The risk of getting black lung depends on how much time has been spent around coal dust.

There are two types of black lung: simple and complicated.

There are relatively few symptoms associated with simple black lung, also known as coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP), and the prognosis is usually good.

But CWP can progress into the more complicated progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), the symptoms of which may include a long-term cough and shortness of breath.

There is no cure for black lung, but doctors may be able to treat complications caused by the disease.

In 2013, coal worker's pneumoconiosis killed 25,000 people, according to UK medical journal The Lancet.

Source: University of Kentucky, US National Library of Medicine and The Lancet

But last year, the Department admitted 150,000 X-rays were still awaiting database entry.

For Keith Stoddart, it is personal. Most of his X-rays now cannot be found.

"Where the bloody hell are these X-rays?" he asked when 7.30 spoke to him. "Get them all and get these f***ing things read!

"I try not to think about it too much — the more I think about it, the crankier I get."

Four months ago he worked at Anglo American's Grasstree mine, near Middlemount in the Bowen Basin.

A growing shortness of breath before Christmas had him worried. Since then he has gotten worse, with now only 50 per cent of his lung function remaining.

After several examinations and a biopsy, he has been diagnosed with black lung.

"The last time I'd seen three specialists, they said it was just the smoking, but I've finally been confirmed with it," he said.

Do you know more about this story? Email 7.30syd@your.abc.net.au

Stephen Smyth, CFMEU mining Queensland district president, said Mr Stoddart has had no support, a claim his employer denies.

'I can't stand it anymore'


Retired coal miner Percy Verrall used to be a fit man but is now struggling for every breath. He spent most of his working life in Queensland's Ipswich coalfields and is now paying the price.

"Our priority is the well-being of the employee and we are working closely with him to fully understand the diagnosis and accommodate future requirements," said a spokesperson from Anglo American

But according to Mr Smyth, Mr Stoddart has paid out of his own pocket to have medicals, X-rays and CT scans done.

What makes the union even angrier is that it now appears that most of the sick man's X-ray records cannot be found by the Mines Department.

Mr Stoddart's lawyer, Craig Worsley, is unimpressed.

"[The Department] respond with five lines in a letter, effectively saying that out of seven X-rays they should have in their possession, they only have one and that's from 1993!" he told 7.30.

For Mr Smyth, it is a disgrace.

"You use that as one example on top of the other 150,000 unprocessed records, including X-rays and health assessments," he said. "It's a mess and there is no light at the end of the tunnel."

External Link: Anglo American Grasstreet mine medical condition diagnosis statement

Black lung was not eradicated, it was 'covered up'

In 1984, a Government survey identified 75 confirmed or suspected cases of black lung amongst the state's underground coal miners.

Keith Stoddart Photo: Keith Stoddart was diagnosed with black lung after working in coal mines for 40 years.

The Government said their GPs or local hospitals were notified, but the union suspects the workers themselves were not.

"I don't think they were told, otherwise we would have known about it," the CFMEU's safety and health officer Jason Hill said.

"We would have had documents or minutes from our organisation from meetings where this would have been highlighted."

By 1999, according to a draft Mines Department report leaked to 7.30, "of the 75 cases identified ... none were reported to be currently in the coal industry..."

"There's been no evidence of any follow up with those men and what happened with them," said Mr. Hill.

"Were they left to their own devices and die a terrible death without any help from the companies that exposed them to the hazard?"

Currently 265 doctors have been nominated by Queensland coal companies to supervise health checks for their miners, but there are concerns local radiologists do not have the expertise to find black lung.

"It's been supposedly eradicated for 30 years, but it hasn't been eradicated at all," Mr Hill said. "It's been hidden, covered up — we don't have the people qualified to do it."

Mr Stoddart believes that all the miners want is safe working conditions.

"There must be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miners out there that have been retired, and possibly even the ones still working — it's just not good enough," he said.

"It's a great job and most miners love it and want to keep working, but they want to be doing it safely."

External Link: A risk assessment of dust and related respiratory disease in coal miners report

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