Abstract
Whole-body Vibration (WBV) is a well- known occupational health hazard in mining industry. Dumper operators are subjected to WBV generated from road-tyre interaction and transmitted through the base of the seat. Dynamic characteristics of vehicle seat are vital contributing factor in determining the quality of a seat in use. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate the transmissibility factor of pneumatic dumper seats used in an Indian mine. Total fifteen (15) dumpers of two different makes with pneumatic seats were selected for the study purpose. The tri-axial seat-pad accelerometers (SVANTEK make SV 38A) collected data in all three orthogonal axes of translational or rectilinear vibration. The mono-axial or single axis accelerometer (SVANTEK make SV 80 with mounting magnet SA 32) was simultaneously positioned rigidly on the floor to record signals in vertical direction. The data so obtained were then calculated using a vibration risk calculator in MS-EXCEL to quickly predict the health impacts using the measured vibration magnitude along with period of exposure per day. The results obtained clearly indicated that the drivers of all the fifteen (15) dumpers are at moderate risk of adverse health effects. It was clear from the SEAT factor calculated using rms and VDV values that the present seats installed in all the dumpers are not efficient and failed to attenuate the vibrations from the floor to seat and ultimately to the body of the dumper operator. It was observed that further in-depth evaluation of engineering and designing part of the seats used in these types of dumpers is desirable. The future scope of such evaluations must take into consideration the actual working condition to be able to realistically attenuate the vibrations so as to provide comfort and relief to the dump operators in mines.
Highlights
Mining industry is associated with many occupational health hazards which require monitoring and evaluation
Crest Factors (CF) being greater than nine, vibration dose values for the pneumatic seats was further taken into account for additional evaluation as stipulated in ISO 2631-1:1997.The health risk was further affirmed by additional analysis using Vibration Dose Values (VDV) values (Table 4)
It is vital to first realize the purpose of installing pneumatic seats in place of rigid seats previously used in the old dump trucks
Summary
Mining industry is associated with many occupational health hazards which require monitoring and evaluation. Whole-body vibration (WBV) is one such hazard known for more than a century and widely discussed in various literatures due to its probable negative health impacts on working population[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13].In surface mining of minerals, various heavy earth-moving machines are deployed for all major operations. All these machineries are more often sophisticated and technologically advanced. The capacity of dumpers in Indian mines presently varies from about 10 to 240 tonnes
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