Estimating Low Back Loads of Underground Mine Roof Bolter Operators Using Digital Human Simulations

Details

• Personal Author:
  Ambrose, Dean H. ; Cole, Gregory P. ; Gallagher S
• Description:
  NIOSH researchers conducted a study to evaluate the severity of muscle recruitment and spine loads resulting from performance of the roof bolting cycle in different work postures and mine seam heights. Ten male and two female subjects performed three repetitions of a mine roof bolting in each of seven posture/seam height combinations while researchers obtained motion data of their actions using a motion capturing system. A database containing forces on L4/L5 spinal joint and on back muscles was generated by processing the captured motions from each subject using UGS PLM Solutions' Jack software's task analysis toolkit--lower back analysis. An analysis of variance was done using the maximum values for spinal forces and moments and estimated muscle forces for 10 trunk muscles in the resulting database. Results show that the roof bolter operator's standing posture significantly increases the forward bending moment, compression force, and trunk muscle activity more than either kneeling posture. Also, the kneeling postures in a 45-in seam height significantly increases, compared to a 60-in seam height, the forward bending moment, twisting moment, compression force, and trunk muscle activity for lateral movements and extending the torso. The mining industry can use this information to reduce loads on the low back through better work postures from designing the machine's work station and modifying bolting cycle work procedures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Mining Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Software
• Keywords:
  Back-injuries Coal-mining Computer-software Equipment-operators Humans Mine-workers Mining-equipment Mining-industry Muscles Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Posture Roof-bolters Simulation Underground-mining

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• Series:
  Mining Publications
• Publisher:
  Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  PRL - Pittsburgh Research Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20025055
• Citation:
  SAE technical paper 2004-01-2148, 2004 Jun; :1-6
• Contact Point Address:
  NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., technical paper 2004-01-2148
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b08db63fd790c5dab6b51adac0eade340a66bdf7464964a2f917ceddab8eafa4ced4db4ea32f06a1e43af98fd4dd281994c448be233d1e09096fa8ca93077bba
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220894/cdc_220894_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.01 MB ]