Coal toll - Black lung payouts

Coal toll - Black lung payouts

Financial Times

28th April 2004

The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has devised a personal dosimeter allowing miners to gauge coal dust exposure while on the job. Meanwhile a Japanese mining company has to pay compensation to some historical sufferers of black lung disease Japanese miners win Y566 million payout

Japan's Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the government and a mining company were responsible for black lung disease in miners decades ago, the first time the top court has awarded compensation to miners for health claims

Japanese media said the court ordered the government and the Nittetsu Mining Company to pay Y566 million ($5.2 million) in total damages to twenty former stricken miners and relatives of deceased miners