CFMEU Northern District president Peter Jordan, urged the Queensland government as well as China and the United States, two countries who each year lose thousands of miners to the fatal disease, to take heed of NSW and the Hunter’s world class industry health protocols in a bid to save lives.

Mr Jordan said Hunter mineworkers undergo regular and stringent health testing including lung screening, particularly to protect employees from pneumoconiosis or black lung, a potentially fatal disease caused by exposure to coal dust.

The disease was thought to have been eradicated more than 50 years ago.

News emerged this week that four Queensland coal miners have been diagnosed with black lung and unions fear there are possibly hundreds, perhaps thousands of workers who would also be at risk.

Mr Jordan told The Mercury on Wednesday that screening for the ­disease in NSW was second to none, with any abnormality or inconsistency appearing on chest X-rays, referred to a specialist for a second opinion.

“Someone in Queensland has dropped the ball on this.

“Maybe their focus across the border has been more on production and not so much on the safety of mineworkers,” he said.

“They should look at our protocols here, come to the Hunter and see what happens. They need to introduce similar legislation and regulation.”

Mr Jordan said NSW Coal Services ensures all the state’s mines adhere to four orders under the NSW Coal Act 2001.

The orders are:

Every operator must have a Coal Services approved health and safety management system in place.

Every operator must have an approved dust control plan.

Miners must have three-yearly health assessments and if working underground a chest X-ray every five years.

Regularly monitor airborne dust with state-of-the-art monitors placed on workers, equipment and placed at various locations around the mine to record dust levels.

“These orders ensure workers are properly trained in dust monitoring and managed closely and that their health is paramount,” Mr Jordan said.

“This shows the robust nature of NSW legislation and the diligence of dust monitoring to environmental standards allowing NSW coal mines to protect their workers health and keep lung disease at bay.”

He said black lung was prevalent in the NSW coal mining industry decades ago.

“There has not been a recorded case for at least a couple of decades now,” Mr Jordan said.

“We ensure workers have X-rays monitored and checked against a normal x-ray so if there is the slightest abnormality it will be forwarded to a specialist.

“A CT scan may follow then a biopsy.

“It may be they in fact have an enlarged heart, a tumour or a nodule of some description that could ­develop into a coal dust- related condition.

“We are confident our radiographers and doctors are highly trained and highly skilled in this area.”