Derickson A
Department of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802.
Am J Public Health. 1991 Jun;81(6):782-90. doi: 10.2105/ajph.81.6.782.
This study examines the early efforts of the United Mine Workers of America to illuminate the problem of occupational respiratory diseases in the coal fields. The union used the hearings of the US Anthracite Coal Strike Commission of 1902-3 to draw public attention to "miners' asthma." In 1915, it began to agitate for the provision of workers' compensation benefits for victims of this disorder. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the union's Welfare and Retirement Fund disseminated information on advances in understanding chronic pulmonary diseases of mining. In particular, the miners' fund promoted the British conceptualization of a distinctive coal workers' pneumoconiosis. At the same time, the staff of the union health plan pressed the US Public Health Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Health to investigate the prevalence of occupational respiratory diseases among bituminous miners. Taken together, these endeavors contributed significantly to growing recognition of the severity and extent of this important public health problem and thus helped lay the foundation for the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969.
本研究考察了美国矿工联合会为揭示煤矿区职业性呼吸道疾病问题所做的早期努力。该工会利用1902 - 1903年美国无烟煤罢工委员会的听证会，使公众关注“矿工哮喘”。1915年，它开始鼓动为这种疾病的受害者提供工人补偿福利。在整个20世纪50年代和60年代，该工会的福利和退休基金传播了有关矿业慢性肺部疾病认识进展的信息。特别是，矿工基金推广了英国对一种独特的煤工尘肺的概念化。与此同时，工会健康计划的工作人员敦促美国公共卫生服务局和宾夕法尼亚州卫生部调查烟煤矿工中职业性呼吸道疾病的患病率。这些努力共同为日益认识到这一重要公共卫生问题的严重性和范围做出了重大贡献，从而为1969年的《联邦煤矿健康与安全法》奠定了基础。
