Uploaded February 2013 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
This 1980 film was made for the US Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration (ESA) which administers the Federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. The film, narrated by Cliff Robertson, looks at the life of coal miners in a small town in the United States. We learn that federal legislation regarding black lung disease improved the lives of the inhabitants of the town. In the last decade, over 10,000 miners have died of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or what is commonly called black lung disease. The disease is also known by Black lung disease, which is caused by inhaling coal mine dust, results in scarring of the lungs and emphysema, shortness of breath, disability, and premature death. Like all occupational diseases, black lung is man-made and can be prevented. In fact, the U.S. Congress ordered black lung to be eradicated from the coal industry in 1969. While the prevalence of black lung disease had decreased by about 90% from 1969 to 1995 following the enactment of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, the downward trend of this disease in coal miners has stopped. Since 1995, the prevalence of black lung cases has more than doubled. Many current underground miners (some as young as in their 30s) are developing severe and advanced cases. Identification of advanced cases among miners under age 50 is of particular concern, as they were exposed to coal-mine dust in the years after implementation of the disease prevention measures mandated by the 1969 federal legislation. An increased risk of pneumoconiosis has also been associated with work in certain mining jobs, in smaller mines, in several geographic areas, and among contract miners. For more information, go to the NIOSH Science Blog at cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb081808_blacklung.html . Late in 1968, a number of miners organized the West Virginia Black Lung Association, which successfully led a campaign to introduce a bill in the 1969 session of the West Virginia legislature making coal workers' pneumoconiosis a compensable disease. The compensation bill was quickly made a major issue by the Black Lung Association and militant miners in February when the legislation ran into opposition from the coal-operator-dominated legislature. Most of the 40,000 miners in West Virginia walked out of the mines, and a large number of them marched on the state capitol in Charleston demanding passage of the bill. Three weeks later, after the Governor signed the bill, the miners went back to work. This was one of the largest and longest strikes ever on the single issue of occupational health. This strike played a vital role in the ultimate passage of similar legislation in three more states in 1969 and one in 1971, and the enactment of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. In this Act, Congress established the black lung benefits program, the first and only federal compensation statute to compensate victims of occupational diseases. In 1977, amendments established a Black Lung Disability Trust Fund to provide compensation to miners whose employers no longer existed, financed by taxes paid by all coal operators. They also made coal companies directly responsible for compensation and medical costs for black lung victims that had worked for them. For more information, visit the United Mine Workers Union website at umwa.org/?q=content/black-lung.
This 1980 film was made for the US Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration (ESA) which administers the Federal Black Lung Disability Trust Fund. The film, narrated by Cliff Robertson, looks at the life of coal miners in a small town in the United States. We learn that federal legislation regarding black lung disease improved the lives of the inhabitants of the town. In the last decade, over 10,000 miners have died of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or what is commonly called black lung disease. The disease is also known by Black lung disease, which is caused by inhaling coal mine dust, results in scarring of the lungs and emphysema, shortness of breath, disability, and premature death. Like all occupational diseases, black lung is man-made and can be prevented. In fact, the U.S. Congress ordered black lung to be eradicated from the coal industry in 1969. While the prevalence of black lung disease had decreased by about 90% from 1969 to 1995 following the enactment of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, the downward trend of this disease in coal miners has stopped. Since 1995, the prevalence of black lung cases has more than doubled. Many current underground miners (some as young as in their 30s) are developing severe and advanced cases. Identification of advanced cases among miners under age 50 is of particular concern, as they were exposed to coal-mine dust in the years after implementation of the disease prevention measures mandated by the 1969 federal legislation. An increased risk of pneumoconiosis has also been associated with work in certain mining jobs, in smaller mines, in several geographic areas, and among contract miners. For more information, go to the NIOSH Science Blog at cdc.gov/niosh/blog/nsb081808_blacklung.html . Late in 1968, a number of miners organized the West Virginia Black Lung Association, which successfully led a campaign to introduce a bill in the 1969 session of the West Virginia legislature making coal workers' pneumoconiosis a compensable disease. The compensation bill was quickly made a major issue by the Black Lung Association and militant miners in February when the legislation ran into opposition from the coal-operator-dominated legislature. Most of the 40,000 miners in West Virginia walked out of the mines, and a large number of them marched on the state capitol in Charleston demanding passage of the bill. Three weeks later, after the Governor signed the bill, the miners went back to work. This was one of the largest and longest strikes ever on the single issue of occupational health. This strike played a vital role in the ultimate passage of similar legislation in three more states in 1969 and one in 1971, and the enactment of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969. In this Act, Congress established the black lung benefits program, the first and only federal compensation statute to compensate victims of occupational diseases. In 1977, amendments established a Black Lung Disability Trust Fund to provide compensation to miners whose employers no longer existed, financed by taxes paid by all coal operators. They also made coal companies directly responsible for compensation and medical costs for black lung victims that had worked for them. For more information, visit the United Mine Workers Union website at umwa.org/?q=content/black-lung.
