This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of occupational lung diseases diagnosed in the South African mining industry, enriched with insights from leading global experts.

Spanning the journey from the initial suspicion of occupational illness through to diagnosis and submission for compensation, it serves as a practical, authoritative guide for occupational medicine practitioners assessing occupational lung diseases in current, former, and deceased mineworkers.

The content includes concise reference guides on key conditions such as pneumoconioses, tuberculosis, lung cancers, work-related asthma, asbestos-related diseases, and chronic obstructive airway diseases.

Eight chapters explain the foundational principles of occupational health, framed within the South African legislative and policy context. The handbook presents a structured care pathway rooted in occupational health principles, emphasising prevention, early diagnosis, rehabilitation, and post-employment surveillance, to support the wellbeing and dignity of affected mineworkers. It covers radiological assessments, pulmonary function tests, and other diagnostic tools essential for identifying occupational lung diseases. Information boxes highlight critical insights, while real-life case studies illustrate the urgent need for enhanced dust control and preventive measures in mining environments.

More than a regulatory guide, this handbook is a definitive reference on the management of occupational lung diseases. It has been designed to remain adaptable to evolving laws, industry milestones, and technological innovations, such as AI-driven diagnostic tools in occupational health.

Each chapter can stand alone, while also being cross-referenced to other sections, figures, and external research for ease of use. The final chapter answers common questions about benefit medical examinations, providing practical clarity on the process.

This handbook is more than a clinical reference. It is a technical resource for ongoing education and capacity building. It is relevant to all mining stakeholders committed to safeguarding workers’ health, including legal teams, human resources and corporate affairs professionals, engineers, occupational hygienists, exposure scientists, service providers and, importantly, mineworkers and their families, both in South Africa and in neighbouring countries that supply labour to the mining sector.

Click here to view the Table of Contents

Click here to view a Sample of a Quick Reference Guide

Endorsed by the ILO and aligns to the ILO’s milestone to elevate occupational safety and health to a fundamental principle and right at work.

Simphiwe Mabhele – ILO Technical Advisor

---

This is an invaluable contribution to the understanding of occupational lung diseases, and to the care of workers who are at risk. The breadth of information contained within this easily carried handbook, and the user-friendly manner in which the information is set out, is a truly remarkable achievement. This is a goldmine of information that no occupational health practitioner, not only those directly involved in the care of workers at risk of occupational respiratory diseases (whether within mining or any other at-risk industry), can afford to be without.

Don Emby – Emeritus Chief Consultant Radiologist to the Minerals Council South Africa, Honorary Emeritus Member of the American Roentgen Ray Society, Honorary Life Member of the College of Radiologists of South Africa

---

With the rich history of internationally recognised scientific excellence in occupational lung disease that resides in South Africa, it is not surprising that an elegant handbook such as this one should have been written by a South African occupational medicine specialist. The benefit of this handbook will be realised not only in South Africa, but indeed beyond the country’s borders. It is clearly a labour of love and the product of a desire to share knowledge, driven by the noble cause of prevention of occupational respiratory diseases.

Jack Parker, MD – Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Radiology, Public Health, Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences, West Virginia University, USA