The mining industry plays a critical role in the U.S. economy, with active mines in every state producing materials such as those used to construct houses and roads, make medicines, and manufacture cars and electronics. Throughout its history, mining has been a male-dominated industry. Recent estimates indicate that between 10% and 17% of miners are women. Previous occupational safety and health (OSH) research has focused primarily on the male experience. In more recent years, the mining industry has engaged in efforts to increase workforce diversity through the recruitment and retention of women miners. To meet the needs of a diverse workforce, it is critically important to identify OSH concerns that are unique to populations that have been understudied and to develop work-related policies and practices that improve their work experiences and health outcomes. The purpose of this article is to describe the specific OSH challenges women as miners face and to discuss how the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) Mining Program is situated to address these challenges through its Mining Program Strategic Plan.

As of October 11, 2022, a total of 26,577 monkeypox cases had been reported in the United States.* Although most cases of monkeypox are self-limited, lesions that involve anatomically vulnerable sites can cause complications. Ocular monkeypox can occur when Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is introduced into the eye (e.g., from autoinoculation), potentially causing conjunctivitis, blepharitis, keratitis, and loss of vision (1). This report describes five patients who acquired ocular monkeypox during July-September 2022. All patients received treatment with tecovirimat (Tpoxx)(†); four also received topical trifluridine (Viroptic).(§) Two patients had HIV-associated immunocompromise and experienced delays between clinical presentation with monkeypox and initiation of monkeypox-directed treatment. Four patients were hospitalized, and one experienced marked vision impairment. To decrease the risk for autoinoculation, persons with monkeypox should be advised to practice hand hygiene and to avoid touching their eyes, which includes refraining from using contact lenses (2). Health care providers and public health practitioners should be aware that ocular monkeypox, although rare, is a sight-threatening condition. Patients with signs and symptoms compatible with ocular monkeypox should be considered for urgent ophthalmologic evaluation and initiation of monkeypox-directed treatment. Public health officials should be promptly notified of cases of ocular monkeypox. Increased clinician awareness of ocular monkeypox and of approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment might reduce associated morbidity.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue negatively impacts mineworker health and safety. In this paper, we identify fatigue interventions tested on industrial shiftworkers and explore their effects and the factors that may influence application in an industrial setting such as a mine site. METHODS: This review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. A structured, systematic search of the literature was conducted to identify relevant studies published between 1980 and 2020. Researchers independently conducted article screening and study quality appraisals against pre-established criteria, and then extracted data and conducted a narrative synthesis of the included studies. RESULTS: Seven intervention studies, out of 1651 articles initially screened, were retained for narrative synthesis. Four studies tested the alerting effects of bright-light treatment, one evaluated the effectiveness of blue-light blocking glasses at improving daytime sleep quality and nighttime vigilance, and two examined whether sleep hygiene and alertness management trainings improved sleep quality or alertness. There was substantial evidence for the use of bright-light treatments to improve night shiftworker alertness, but insufficient evidence to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of blue-light blocking glasses and sleep hygiene and alertness management trainings due to the small number of studies included. Shiftworkers were mostly male and employed in industrial subsectors such as production and manufacturing, oil and gas, and transportation. No mining-specific intervention studies were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Future research is needed to identify effective fatigue risk management interventions for the mining industry as well as best practices for implementing these interventions with mineworkers.

BACKGROUND: Though mining remains a vital shiftwork industry for U.S. commerce, problems of continued prevalence of mineworker fatigue and its mitigation persist. Publications and reports on fatigue in mining appear to be rich and diverse, yet variable and remote, much like the industry itself. METHODS: The authors engaged in a brief nonexhaustive overview of the literature on sleep and fatigue among mineworking populations. RESULTS: This overview covers: potential sources of fatigue unique to mine work (e.g., monotonous and disengaging Work Tasks, underground environments and light exposure, remote work operations); evaluation of mitigation strategies for mineworker fatigue or working hours (e.g., shift-scheduling and training); and areas for future research and practice (e.g., fatigue risk management systems in mining, mineworker sleep and fatigue surveillance, lighting interventions, and automation). CONCLUSIONS: Fatigue continues to be a critical challenge for the mining industry. While research on the problems and solutions of mineworker fatigue has been limited to date, the future of fatigue research in mining can expand these findings by exploring the origins, nature, and outcomes of fatigue using advancements in lighting, automation, and fatigue risk management.

Fatigue presents several challenges for the mining industry. Depending on the specific occupation, daily work or operational setup on any given mine site, mining jobs can have a fair amount of labor-intensive tasks mixed with monotonous and repetitive duties. Combined with the long working hours and shift-work schedules of mining work, the prevalence of fatigue in mine workers may seem rather unsurprising.