The U.S. Department of Labor is working to ensure that coal miners know their rights by launching an awareness campaign focused on miners who have developed black lung disease.

Christopher Williamson, the Assistant Secretary of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, says growing up in southern West Virginia gave him a firsthand look at why some coal miners stay on the job despite the dangers – including pneumoconiosis, which is better known as black lung disease.

“Pneumoconiosis is a progressive illness, you don't get better, you only progressively get worse and get more sick over time. And the more you're exposed to coal, dust and silica and other toxins, the faster the progressivity of the illness.,” Williamson told Spectrum News.

The Labor Department is highlighting a federal regulation known as Part 90, which gives miners already diagnosed with pneumoconiosis the right to be reassigned to a healthier part of the mine without a reduction in pay or retaliation from their employer.

This awareness program is a part of a broader initiative called “Miner Health Matters," which puts a focus on prevention.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Spectrum News that the department wants to focus on creating "policies to make sure we have safety procedures in place to protect our coal miners, to make sure they don’t come down with black lung and they don’t come down with other illnesses."

The goal, Walsh says, is to "work on the front end to make sure they can catch black lung disease early on and not wait until it’s too late.” 

For more information about the campaign, check out the Miner Health Matters website.