Osteoarthritis of the Knee in Coal Miners : Report by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council in Accordance with Section 171 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 Considering Prescription fo

Although osteoarthritis of the knee is a common disease in the general population, the attention of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) was drawn to research evidence of an increased risk of the disease in miners.

The Council identified two high quality, well conducted studies from the 1950s which clearly showed a greater than doubled risk of osteoarthritis of the knee in miners.

Supporting this relatively limited direct evidence, was a wealth of more recent indirect research evidence, which showed that kneeling or squatting under heavy physical load - a common occupational circumstance of mining - was also associated with a greater than doubled risk of knee osteoarthritis.

Evidence from several studies suggested that the excess risk of disease might be expected where such exposures arose over a time period of at least 10 years in aggregate.Increased mechanisation and other changes in the industry have led to a significant decrease in the amount of time most miners spend kneeling and squatting while undertaking heavy physical tasks. However, evidence the Council has received indicates that such activities would still have been undertaken by certain categories of miner well after the mid-1980s.

The Council recommends that osteoarthritis of the knee should be prescribed in relation to work as an underground miner for ten years or more in aggregate; but that to be reckonable, any service from 1986 onwards must be in one or more of the following categories: as a faceworker working non-mechanised coal faces; or as a development worker or conveyor belt cleaner or attendant.