Pneumoconiosis

Pneumoconiosis is the medical name for lung disease caused by inhaling dust, usually on the job. The lungs cannot clear certain fine mineral particles, so the dust stays, causes inflammation, and leads to scarring that stiffens the lungs and makes breathing harder. It usually develops over years of exposure and cannot be reversed.

The main types are named for the dust. Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is known as black lung. Silicosis comes from crystalline silica, found in stone, sand, and engineered stone countertops. Asbestosis comes from asbestos fibers. Severe cases of black lung and silicosis can progress to a form with large masses of scar tissue called progressive massive fibrosis.

Federal law gives coal miners a special benefits program. The Black Lung Benefits Act defines pneumoconiosis as "a chronic dust disease of the lung and its sequelae, including respiratory and pulmonary impairments, arising out of coal mine employment." The Act requires liable mine operators to pay disability benefits, with a federal fund paying when the operator cannot. Those claims go through the Department of Labor, not the courts.

Outside coal mining, people with pneumoconiosis often bring product liability lawsuits against the companies that made or sold the dusty material. Countertop fabricators with silicosis have sued engineered stone makers, and people with asbestosis have claims against asbestos companies and bankruptcy trusts. Work history and chest imaging are the key evidence. See our pages on silicosis lawsuits and asbestos claims and trust funds.