The University of Illinois (Chicago) will undertake an independent quality assurance review of the coal industry health surveillance scheme in New South Wales.
The quality assurance review will build on NSW’s comprehensive approach to health issues in the coal mining industry.
The review was a direct recommendation from NSW Mine Safety Advisory Council (MSAC), a ministerially appointed council that comprises representation from government, mining industry employers, unions and independent experts, and follows an earlier recommendation to bring forward reductions in coal dust limits by almost two years.
The University of Illinois (Chicago) has extensive experience evaluating respiratory health surveillance programs for coal mine workers around the world including the United States, Ukraine, Columbia and Australia.
The project team has the clinical and analytical expertise to ensure the successful delivery of the review, including decades of experience working with mineral dust-exposed workers.
The review will also provide assurance to the industry that the health surveillance system in NSW is effective in the early identification of health conditions that may affect workers and recommends any necessary changes to improve the scheme.
The University of Illinois (Chicago) will report its findings from the review back to MSAC by the end of February 2022.
In March, MSAC chair George Souris said that New South Wales wanted to stay on the front foot to ensure the state’s coal workers continued to have the best possible protections.
“We don’t want to wait until something goes wrong in (New South Wales) to act and this quality assurance review will focus on the coal industry health surveillance scheme to ensure it is continuing to provide robust and effective health surveillance for coal workers,” Souris said.
The New South Wales coal dust respirable standard is now 1.5 milligrams per cubic metre, effective since February.
This is a reduction from 2.5 milligrams per cubic metre, a limit that had been in place since 2004.