Study of resistance to dusting of filtering face pieces used by coal mines workers

One of the most common harmful production factors in underground coal mining is the resulting fine industrial dust, the inhalation of which is the main cause of occupational lung and bronchial diseases among underground personnel. In the article, the authors raise the issue of correctly determining the required number of filtering face pieces, which must be given to an worker for a shift for certain conditions. Today, unfortunately, at mining enterprises, the purchase and issuance of personal respiratory protection equipment (PRPE) to workers is carried out based either on the minimum cost of a particular model or reference information on its protection class at the rate of one filtering face pieces per shift. However, when choosing a respirator and determining the required amount, one should not rely only on the specified protection class (FFP1, FFP2 or FFP3), introduced by GOST 12.4.294-2015 (EN 149:2001 + A1:2009). This is due to the fact that the actual dispersed and material composition of airborne dust at various workplaces differs markedly from the properties of dolomite dust, on which filtering face pieces are tested. The paper describes the authors' laboratory studies of the effectiveness and re-sistance to dusting of the five most accessible and widespread models of respirators of various protection classes in Russian mining enterprises «Respic RS2202», «У-2К», «Spirotek vs1200», «Alina-210», «WALL AIR 95HK». A method for determining the most suitable respirator model with the maximum time for the onset of «respiratory dis-comfort» is proposed.

Kolvakh K. A., Kornev A. V., Tumanov M. V., Lyubimova A. L., Rodionov V. A. Study of resistance to dusting of filtering face pieces used by coal mines workers. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2023;(9-1):164-179. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2023_91_0_164.

K.A. Kolvakh¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant, e-mail: kaaspmin@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-0145-9465,
A.V. Kornev¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, e-mail: Kornev_AV@pers.spmi.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6371-9969,
M.V. Tumanov¹, Cand. Sci. (Med.), Associate Professor, e-mail: maxfog@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3795-1005,
A.L. Lyubimova¹, Student, e-mail: anastasua1@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0007-7394-3500,
V.A. Rodionov¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Associate Professor, e-mail: Rodionov_VA@pers.spmi.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2398-5829,
¹ Saint-Petersburg Mining University, 199106, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

A.V. Kornev, e-mail: Kornev_AV@pers.spmi.ru.

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