When it comes to occupational diseases, I am afraid many people will think of pneumoconiosis first. People with this occupational disease often need to be exposed to various kinds of dust for a long period of time, which will naturally affect their health. Although there are quite a number of special protective gears for labor protection, there are still quite a number of people suffering from pneumoconiosis every year. For special industries, management should be strengthened to ensure the health of the practitioners. What are the clinical manifestations of pneumoconiosis? The clinical manifestations of pneumoconiosis patients mainly include cough, sputum, chest pain and difficulty in breathing. In addition, some patients may have wheezing, hemoptysis and some systemic symptoms. In the early stage of pneumoconiosis, coughing is not obvious, but with the progress of the disease, coughing can be aggravated. Especially when combined with chronic bronchitis or lung infection, the cough can be very serious. Coughing is more pronounced in smokers than in non-smokers. Pneumoconiosis patients may have sputum even when coughing very little. In coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, the sputum is mostly black, in which coal dust particles can be clearly seen. If combined with intrapulmonary infections and chronic bronchitis, the amount of sputum increases significantly, and the sputum is yellow and thick or lumpy, which is often not easy to cough out. Almost every pneumoconiosis patient has mild or severe chest pain, which may be more common in silicosis and asbestosis patients. The site of chest pain is not fixed, mostly limited; the nature of the pain is not serious, usually hidden pain, distension, pins and needles. Difficulty in breathing is related to the severity of the disease. The occurrence of pulmonary comorbidities can significantly aggravate the degree and speed of development of dyspnea, and can involve the heart, occurring pulmonary heart disease. What is included in the Occupational Health Screening for Workers Engaged in Dust Operations? There are four types of occupational health checkups for dust workers: pre-employment, on-the-job, off-the-job, and post-employment medical follow-up. The physical examination items vary from one health examination to another. Generally speaking, except for the inquiry of occupational history and symptoms and the routine examination of internal medicine, the examination of posterior anterior X-ray high-thousand volts chest radiograph, electrocardiogram and lung function is required before, during and after leaving the workplace, and the medical follow-up after leaving the workplace only requires the taking of posterior anterior X-ray high-thousand volts chest radiographs. The specific examination items and cycles can be found in China’s Technical Specification for Occupational Health Monitoring (GBZ188-2007). Can Pneumoconiosis be cured? Can Pneumoconiosis be prevented? At present, there is no specific treatment drug or cure for pneumoconiosis. It is mainly a comprehensive treatment, i.e. active symptomatic treatment along with medication, prevention of complications, enhancement of nutrition, regularization of life and appropriate physical exercise. Some silicosis treatment drugs researched in China over the years have been observed in clinical trials to reduce symptoms and slow down the progress of the disease, but the exact efficacy has yet to be observed and evaluated. The key to the prevention of pneumoconiosis lies in maximizing the prevention of inhalation of harmful dust. As long as proper measures are taken, pneumoconiosis can be completely prevented. Since there is no good way to treat this occupational disease, prevention is very important. First of all, the practitioners themselves should know the hazards of pneumoconiosis, have the awareness of self-protection, and do not go to work without labor protection. Secondly, enterprises should also pay attention to the protection of their employees, and it is better to arrange for them to attend medical check-ups on a regular basis.