Appendix D
Glossary
Coal mine dust personal sampling unit: A gravimetric sampler used to collect respirable dust samples. Filters containing collected samples must be mailed to a laboratory for analysis, which can take several days.
Coal rank: A classification of coal based on fixed carbon, volatile matter, and heating value. It indicates the progressive geological alteration (coalification) from lignite to anthracite.
Continuous personal dust monitor: Monitoring device worn by a miner that provides a near real-time display of cumulative concentrations of respirable coal mine dust.
Crystalline silica: Crystalline silica is a collective term that refers to quartz, cristobalite, tridymite, and several other rare silica minerals. All of the crystalline silica minerals have the same chemical composition but have different crystal structures and are thus termed polymorphs. Quartz is the most common form of crystalline silica.
Designated area: Areas in an underground mine that are sampled for specific reasons, such as the point where coal is loaded onto a conveyor belt.
Designated occupation: Occupations in an underground mine set by the 2014 respirable coal mine dust rule because they are exposed to the highest concentrations of respirable dust, such as the operator of a continuous mining machine.
Designated work position: Location at the surface area of an underground coal mine that is exposed to the highest concentrations of respirable coal mine dust, such as highwall drill operators and bulldozer operators.
Dose: The amount of material that passes or otherwise has influence across the boundary within an organism; comes into contact with the target system, organ, or cell; and produces an outcome.
Exposure: Contact of a stressor, such as respirable coal mine dust, with a receptor, such as a coal miner, over a defined period.
Mining research establishment instrument: The gravimetric dust sampler with a four-channel horizontal elutriator developed by the Mining Research Establishment of the National Coal Board, London, England. 30 CFR 70.2.
Normal production shift: A shift during which there is at least 80 percent of the average production over the most recent 30 production shifts (or for all shifts if fewer than 30).
Other designated occupation: Additional occupations at underground mines set by the 2014 respirable coal mine dust rule that are frequently exposed to high concentrations of dust, such as the coal hauler or roof bolter operator.
Part 90 Miner: A miner at an underground mine who has evidence of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis.
Quartz: Crystalline silicon dioxide (SiO2) not chemically combined with other substances and having a distinctive physical structure
Respirable coal mine dust: Airborne particulate matter occurring as a result of the extraction or preparation of coal in or around a coal mine. It is the dust collected with a sampling device approved by the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Silicate: Any of a large class of chemical compounds composed of silicon, oxygen, and at least one metal. Most rocks and minerals are silicates. Any mineral containing the group SiO4, either isolated, or joined to other groups in chains, sheets, or three-dimensional groups with metal elements.
