• Coal Mining
• Respiratory Function Tests
• Occupational Health Services
• Public Health Surveillance

Coal miners are occupationally exposed to coal mine dust, which can cause a spectrum of diseases called coal mine dust lung disease; these include coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP, also known as ‘black lung’), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), silicosis and dust-related diffuse fibrosis.1 The incidence of these diseases, especially CWP, has been on the rise in the USA in the past two decades2 and likely remains high in other industrial countries such as China.3 This indicates the inadequacy of primary prevention via dust control regulations, necessitating an added layer of secondary prevention through health surveillance and screening of coal miners.4 This was classically performed by offering chest radiographs to coal miners, with spirometry added more recently to enhance the detection of obstructive or restrictive lung impairments.5 The goal of screening, in the context of occupational risk assessment, is to detect possible early-stage and subclinical disease so that early intervention—in the form of enhanced protection from dust or transfer to a less dusty mining job—can …