Operating Speed Assessments of Underground Mining Equipment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bartels, John R. ; DuCarme, Joseph P. ; Kwitowski, August J.
• Description:
  Numerous fatal/nonfatal accidents involving underground workers struck by powered machinery occur yearly, with continuous miners and roof bolters involved in the majority of these accidents. In an attempt to reduce these accidents, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Laboratory conducted studies of operator interactions with the motions of continuous mining machines and roof bolter boom arms. These operators generally perform their tasks in close proximity to the equipment in confined workspaces, often employing awkward postures. Since experiments with human subjects using the actual equipment were not feasible due to safety concerns, researchers opted to conduct controlled experiments in laboratory settings. Utilizing motion capture technologies and computer simulations, the studies collected data on equipment and operator movement in a range of seam heights and working postures. This article details the results of these studies to examine operating speeds based on usage and seam height. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-prevention Equipment-design Equipment-operators Injuries Injury-prevention Mine-workers Miners Mining-equipment Mining-industry Underground-mining
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  0026-5187
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  39-45
• Volume:
  62
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036801
• Citation:
  Min Eng 2010 Mar; 62(3):39-45
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Mining
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Mining Engineering
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5d9ca3e8733591ec243f1e01566d0460f752ec08e354f4780864b24fdd94b7b47599688de4ce16309a6481f0beb5eb25ac2c7ceb4e5b6d1648a412302c176d7c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227215/cdc_227215_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 958.10 KB ]