Dust disease toolkit
The Take Action to Prevent Dust Disease toolkit is designed to provide mine workers and mine operators with information, advice and guidance related to managing dust.
The member organisations of the Mine Safety Advisory Council have combined resources to create this dust toolkit. The toolkit is designed to provide mine workers and mine operators with information, advice and guidance related to managing dust.
Take action to prevent dust disease
Dust - Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
Coal and silica dust at the respirable fraction can cause pneumoconiosis (in the case of coal) or silicosis (in the case of crystalline silica). Both are debilitating and often fatal lung diseases.
Take steps to ensure your own personal safety, as well as the safety of your work mates.
Download the dust diseases posters:
- Poster 1 (PDF, 256.4 KB) featuring a quarry worker
- Poster 2 (PDF, 248.16 KB) featuring the Hon. George Souris
- Poster 3 (PDF, 215.39 KB) featuring Dr Deborah Yates
- Poster 4 (PDF, 164.68 KB) featuring Anthony Margetts
Silicosis is entirely preventable
Long term exposure to dust can generate a number of significant health issues from chronic debilitation all the way through to death depending on the duration of exposure and the type and concentration of dust that workers are exposed to.
In New South Wales, no worker can be exposed to dust in excess of the workplace exposure standards that are prescribed in legislation. Mine operators and quarry managers need to be aware of exposure standards and take proactive steps reduce dust exposure to as low as reasonably practicable.
Black Lung Disease: an ongoing focus in NSW
This campaign is designed to educate workers and mine operators of the risks associated with respirable coal dust.
Videos
Booklets
Pamphlets
Fact sheets
Reports
- TIP consolidated report - Respirable dust in quarry operations (PDF, 1 MB) - November 2019
- TAP consolidated report - airborne contaminants in underground metalliferous mines (PDF, 215.2 KB) - January 2018
- TAP consolidated report - Airborne contaminants - UG Metex (PDF, 215.2 KB) - July 2018
- TAP consolidated report - Airborne contaminants (surface coal) interim report (PDF, 183.37 KB) - August 2018
- Evaluation report: MSAC dust safety awareness campaign
- More reports
- planned inspection consolidated report – open cut coal July 2021 – Dust and other airborne contaminants (PDF, 667.78 KB)
- consolidated report – underground coal September 2021 – Air quality or dust or other airborne contaminants (PDF, 442.34 KB)
- consolidated report – metalliferous mines September 2021 – Air quality or dust or other airborne contaminants (PDF, 686.16 KB)
- planned inspection program consolidated report – underground coal June 2022 – Air quality or dust or other airborne contaminants – stage 2 (PDF, 521.28 KB)
- planned inspection program consolidated report – surface coal mines July 2022 – Air quality or dust or other airborne contaminants – stage 2 (PDF, 547.7 KB)