Designing Ergonomic Safe And Attractive Mining Workplaces

The mining industry has experienced important improvements with regard to its safety record and work environment. But there is still room for further improvement and the mining industry now faces the challenge of securing a future workforce: The current workforce is aging, and mining work increasingly requires a more qualified workforce. Designing Ergonomic, Safe, and Attractive Mining Workplaces seeks to give an understanding of what must be considered in the design of mining workplaces. By reviewing and discussing the historic and current development of the mining industry as well as problems related to the safety, ergonomics, and attractiveness of mining workplaces, it demonstrates that the challenges facing the mining industry often need to be solved on a case-to-case basis. The processes through which these issues are managed are of significant importance. To facilitate a proactive approach, the book covers the principles of systematic work environment management, together with examples of methods for risk management and work environment monitoring. It introduces a systematic and iterative design and planning method for the mining industry. This method acknowledges that all relevant stakeholders must be able to influence the design of ergonomic, safe, and attractive mining workplaces. Features Takes a holistic and sociotechnical approach to current and future problems of the mining industry, which normally are dealt with in isolation or through technology Reviews historic, current, and future issues in the mining industry with regards to workplace attractiveness, health, safety, mechanization, automation, and work organization Provides several examples of these issues and attempts to address them (successfully and unsuccessfully) Covers the principles of systematic work environment management together with examples of methods for risk management and work environment monitoring for pro-actively dealing with work environment issues Introduces a systematic and iterative design and planning method for the mining industry that aims to avoid problems of traditional planning approaches and increase stakeholder and employee participation

Research has shown that an ergonomics process that identifies risk factors, devises solutions to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and evaluates the effectiveness of the solutions can lower worker exposure to risk factors and MSDs and improve productivity. A review of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) injury/illness database indicated that 46% of illnesses in 2004 were associated with repetitive trauma and 35% of nonfatal lost days involved material handling during 2001– 2004. Even though these statistics show that MSDs significantly contribute to occupational illnesses and injuries in the U.S. mining industry, few mining companies have implemented an ergonomics process. Despite the many unique challenges in the mining environment, three mining companies partnered with the MSD Prevention Team at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's Pittsburgh Research Laboratory to demonstrate that an ergonomics process could be systematically implemented and effectively integrated with existing safety and health programs. Because these three mining companies were very different in organization, culture, and size, the ergonomics processes had to be modified to meet the needs of each company. A description of how these three companies applied ergonomics and the tools and training used to implement their processes is given. Prior to discussing the case studies, general information on the elements of an ergonomics process is provided. Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among people and other elements of a system to optimize their well-being and overall system performance [IEA 2008]. This is generally accomplished by applying ergonomic principles to the design and evaluation of manual tasks, jobs, products, environments, and systems, ensuring that they meet the needs, capabilities, and limitations of people. When integrated with safety and health programs, ergonomics can be viewed as a third leg of a three-pronged risk management approach to reduce musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) rates. Safety focuses on hazards that may result in traumatic injuries, industrial hygiene concentrates on hazards that may cause occupational disease, and ergonomics addresses risk factors that may result in MSDs and other conditions, such as vibration-related illnesses. By applying ergonomic principles to the workplace with a systematic process, risk factor exposures are reduced or eliminated. Employees can then work within their abilities and are more efficient at performing and completing tasks. The benefits of applying ergonomic principles are not only reduced MSD rates, but also improved productivity and quality of life for workers. The purpose of this document is to provide information on implementing a successful ergonomics process that is part of the organizational culture.

Machines increasingly pervade the mining industry, reducing manual labor and raising production. While the use of new technologies such as remote control, vision enhancement technologies, continuous haulage, and automated equipment has grown, so has the potential for new health and safety risks. Written by leading experts from Australia and North America, Human Factors for the Design, Operation, and Maintenance of Mining Equipment covers the impact of new mining technology on human work performance and safety. Ergonomics experts Tim John Horberry, Robin Burgess-Limerick, and Lisa J. Steiner draw on their personal experience to provide up-to-date research, case studies, and examples, making the book useful, accurate, informative, and easy to read. They set the scene with a general, yet fundamental review of human factors information related to equipment. They then examine the physical environment and the importance of key concerns such as vibration, noise, heat, and dust in maintaining and operating mining equipment. The authors expand their scope by examining wider organizational and task factors related to mining equipment, including the long-standing issues of operator fatigue and stress as well as newer concerns such as distraction and information overload. A synthesis of available human factors knowledge and research, the book describes human factors principles applied to mining equipment from a multidisciplinary perspective and combines it into one volume. The authors combine their in-the-trenches experience and academic expertise to present a treatment that balances breadth with depth. The book supplies a much-needed overview of the human element in the journey to optimal equipment design of mining equipment.

The purpose of this document is to provide information on implementing a successful ergonomics process that is part of the organizational culture. Section I describes the basic elements of the process and then discusses the importance of employee participation in the implementation process. Section II describes how three mining companies implemented ergonomics processes, including lessons learned. Interventions implemented by the mining companies are presented in Section III, along with information on changes to discomfort levels at one of the companies. Section IV describes various tools used when implementing the processes, while section V focuses on training, including a presentation for management that promotes the value of ergonomics processes.

This book focuses on instilling a safety culture and fostering the ability to recognize and manage health and safety responsibilities and requirements. It details effective and safety management systems and concentrates on safety and health hazard anticipation, identification, evaluation, and control.

Focuses on how work poses risk of injury to the musculoskeletal system of the worker and emphasizes designs that reduce human error and injury. Gives advice, information resources, referrals and links to publications and bibliographic databases.

The consideration of human factors issues is vital to the mining industry. As in other safety-critical domains, human performance problems constitute a significant threat to system safety, making the study of human factors an important field for improving safety in mining operations. The primary purpose of this book is to provide the reader with a much-needed overview of human factors within the mining industry, in particular to understand the role of human error in mine safety, explaining contemporary risk management and safety systems approaches. The approach taken is multidisciplinary and holistic, based on a model of the systems of work in the mining industry domain. The ingredients in this model include individual operators, groups/teams, technology/equipment, work organisation and the physical environment. Throughout the book, topics such as human error and safety management are covered through the use of real examples and case studies, allowing the reader to see the practical significance of the material presented while making the text rigorous, useful and enjoyable. Understanding Human Error in Mine Safety is written for professionals in the field, researchers and students of mining engineering, safety or human factors.