Discomfort survey of dumper operators exposed to whole-body vibration in opencast coal mines

Abstract

Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) can lead to pain and discomfort of the heavy earthmoving machinery operators. In this paper, WBV measurement of 110 dumper operators has been conducted in three opencast coal mines, followed by a discomfort survey. Vibration measurement revealed that the mean frequency-weighted daily rms acceleration, A(8), for the operators was 0.87 m s−2. The discomfort survey was conducted to determine whether body regions of discomfort relate to their kinds of task performed by the dumper operators and also to prioritize areas for ergonomic intervention. Overall discomfort was evaluated corresponding to five regions of human body in the present survey. The results of the survey revealed that maximum operators had discomfort in their lower back region (65%) followed by leg region (53%). The industrial application of discomfort analysis is to identify the human body regions susceptible to vibration hazards. The discomfort indices are also correlated with vibration magnitude and some of the contributing factors of WBV for better understanding the vibration risks faced by the dumper operators for effectively managing the impacts of vibration in surface coal mines.