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Category: Coal / Mining Industry / Respiratory Diseases / Federal - State Issues / Unions

Black lung cases could rise dramatically, says mining union

Friday, 12 Feb 2016 17:33:44 | Leonie Mellor

Retired coal miner Percy Verrall and wife Daphne Verrall said black lung had ruined their lives. (ABC News: Leonie Mellor)

A retired coal miner says his life has changed markedly since he found out he is suffering from the disease known as black lung.

For 30 years, the condition was thought to have been eradicated from Australia's coal fields.

Then last year, Percy Verrall, 72, from Ipswich, west of Brisbane, found out what was initially diagnosed as pneumonia was actually pneumoconiosis, or black lung.

It was a result of the 29 years he spent working underground.

"If I'd have known I was going to be like this years ago, I would have got out of the mines altogether," Mr Verrall said.

"Twice last year, early in the year we were in bed at eight o'clock in the morning.

"She [wife, Daphne] said, 'You're gurgling', and I said, 'Yeah I can feel it in my chest'.

"I got up, walked to my bedroom door there, turned straight into the toilet and blood just went everywhere.

"What it does it buggers up the wall of your lung and that's why you bleed."

Mr Verrall said he could no longer play with his grandchildren and struggled to walk more than a few metres before running out of breath.

Since late last year another five victims of black lung have been confirmed, with 20 more people being assessed.

'This is the tip of the iceberg'

A Senate inquiry is set to investigate the sudden reappearance of black lung.

Unions fear many more coal miners could be affected.

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 had killed 25,000 people, according to UK medical journal The Lancet.

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

The Queensland Government last year commissioned a study to review the situation in coal mines.

The Senate inquiry will be in addition to that, examining issues around detection of the illness and the treatment for sufferers.

Stephen Smyth from the CFMEU said he wanted mining companies, radiologists, former mines inspectors to give evidence.

"These people need to come along and explain why on their watch they've allowed a disease they believe was eradicated - we believe they stopped looking for it - to suddenly emerge back in Queensland and unfortunately this is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

"Standards that were in place have been allowed to be reduced. Companies themselves are now allowed to take the dust samples. They decide when they're taken.

"It's unacceptable that mines out there are not following the rules and think they can just continue to do what they've been doing."

He said the re-emergence of black lung could prove to be a health issue that escalated dramatically, as occurred with workers exposed to asbestos.

"We don't want to compare and we can't compare with the James Hardie and asbestos but this is a coal miners disease and this is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

'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.

At issue is 150,000 x-rays sitting within the department of mines, yet to be assessed for pneumoconiosis.

Australian radiologists lack training to look for the disease.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche questioned the value of a Senate inquiry on top of the State review.

"We'll cooperate with a Senate inquiry," he said.

"We do worry that it's a bit of political exercise rather than trying to get to the nut of the problem. The good news is the State Government has the experts on the job."

But Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk welcomed the move.

"It's a very important issue. It has a huge impact on many people in this state."

Submissions for the inquiry close at the end of the month.

Hearings have been set down for May in Brisbane and Mackay.

AustraliaPlus


 

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