Three Queensland coal miners contract deadly ‘black lung’ disease

Three Queensland coal miners have contracted the deadly “black lung” disease, not seen here for almost half a century.

The confirmed cases were revealed in an industry report, natural resources minister Anthony Lynham told the state parliament today. Picture: Jono Searle

Three Queensland coal miners have contracted the deadly “black lung” disease, not seen in Australia for almost half a century.

The confirmed cases of pneumoconiosis - or “black lung” - were revealed in a coal mining industry report, natural resources minister Anthony Lynham told the state parliament today.

Mr Lynham said he had ordered a review by his Department’s director-general to improve assessment of coalminers’ health.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union said the cases, caused by a build up of coal dust in the lungs could be “the tip of the iceberg”, and called for the department to adopt “urgent” random sampling of miners with 15 to 20 years service or more.

The union also wants an industry database for coal mines to monitor all personal exposure data and mandatory chest X-rays and called for better regulation of mine conditions ensure adequate ventilation and health standards.

“A regulatory system was set up to monitor and detect a range of health issues affecting coal mine workers, which included providing regular X-rays (but) the miners union believes the system has not been maintained and is compromised,” the CFMEU said.

“Of great concern is that Australian health and regulatory frameworks are no longer equipped to deal with the disease,” CFMEU Queensland district president Stephen Smyth said.

“It’s appalling that companies and regulatory bodies have let health standards deteriorate, putting the lives of workers at serious risk”.

Specialists from the United States helped diagnose the men owing to a lack of local expertise.

“There is a real possibility that many more current and ex-mine workers are living and working in Queensland with the disease undiagnosed.

“This is a disease that takes hold gradually and we’re extremely concerned that recent diagnoses are just the tip of the iceberg,

There was a backlog of more than 100,000 miners X-rays to be reviewed, the CFMEU said.

Failure to detect Black Lung early means miners will continue to work in the coalfields at a devastating cost to their health, Mr Smyth said.