Lighting for work: a study on the effect of underground low-light environment on miners' physiology.

Abstract

Low-light environment affects human physiology, psychology, and behavior. It causes errors in work and increases accidents. In this study, we built a coal mine lighting simulation experiment system. The system not only includes an experimental environment simulation system and a physiological indicator test system, but also adds a miners' working simulation system. We aim to study the effect of different illumination levels (0lx, 10lx, 50lx, 100lx, and 200lx) on three indicators: heart rate, electrodermal activity, and respiration. The results show illuminance has a significant negative correlation with all the above three indicators. Heart rate seems to be most significantly affected by illuminance, and it changes significantly from the normal level (200lx) at 50lx. By contrast, the respiratory rate and electrodermal activity change significantly at 10lx. When the illuminance is 50~100lx, all the three indicators return to the normal level. The results suggest that coal mine illumination should be around 50~100lx. When the minimum illumination is less than 10lx, accidents tend to increase.