Abstract
To investigate the extent to which respiratory protection is used in current underground coal mines, patterns of self-reported respirator use were analyzed in a cohort of 193 underground bituminous coal miners who were followed for five years. At six-month intervals, miners were asked what percentage of time they used a respirator at work. Based on 1370 responses, the mean percentage of time that a respirator was worn was 18.9% for all subjects, with 39.8% reporting no respirator use at all observation points. Coal mining job category was significantly associated with respirator use. Face workers reported wearing respirators a mean of 28.1% of the time compared with 9.8% for nonface workers and 3.0% for supervisors. Higher tenure was associated with lower respirator use. Respirator use was not related to smoking, mine, age, or years of education. Further study is needed relating patterns of respirator use to temporal changes in coal mine dust exposure. Failure to account for respirator use may result in overestimation of miners' cumulative exposures to respirable coal mine dust.