Abstract
The National Occupational Health Survey of Mining (NOHSM) was designed to provide estimates of health and safety hazards, including ergonomic hazards, to which miners are exposed. Nine specially-trained observers documented health hazards for 144 mines that were representative of the metal-nonmetal mining industry. The observers documented 9,121 exposures to 12 different ergonomic hazards. Almost 25% of these exposures were to hazards involving the neck and back. Other major ergonomic hazards included: Movement of the forearms, arms and shoulder; and finger-hand movement. The mining categories (i.e., ‘commodities’) most at risk for ergonomic hazards were (in order of diminishing risk, with the total workforce at risk in parentheses): Trona (N = 749), Leonardite (N = 52), Gold-Lode/Placer (N = 4,290), Gemstones (N = 80), Rare Earths (N = 218), and Aluminium Ore (N = 3,801). These results are discussed in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of various ergonomic interventions, as well as improving the efficacy of current health and safety inspection strategies.
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