Coal Age

NOV 2014

Coal Age Magazine - For nearly 100 years, Coal Age has been the magazine that readers can trust for guidance and insight on this important industry.

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the researchers said. "Ergonomics audits can be used by any mine health and safety professional, which is a distinct advantage for mining where ergonomists are still uncommon; rather than just identify problems, the ergonomics audit provide mining specific practical solutions to iden- tified problems, in a tiered manner." The trio of audits were developed over a period of several years after assessing and integrating historical injury data, extensive mine site field data collection and laboratory studies at the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research. The team also gained extensive knowledge directly from mine personnel providing their own company solutions to ergonomics issues. Additionally, as part of the audit development, a researcher pilot tested earlier drafts of the audits with mine health and safety professionals to improve the audits' use, relevance and functionality. "[Specifically], field studies were designed to accommodate the specific nature of the work and exposures in the three different types of operations," the researchers said. "For haul truck operations, an investigation of the impact of operating haul trucks for a full shift on postural stability and upper extremity performance (grip force and tac- tile sensitivity) was conducted. Exposure to upper extremity and whole-body vibration was measured during entire work shifts (8 or 10 hours)." The agency said that the results from this research will be made available to the industry once the analyses are completed. The NIOSH audit tool will be made avail- able in both a mobile application and paper document format. The app, ( which will be downloadable for free for iPhone and Android platforms) as well as the paper-and-pencil version of the audit, should be ready by mid-2015. November 2014 www.coalage.com 29 h a u l t r u c k s c o n t i n u e d A NIOSH researcher installing data collection instrumentation in a haul truck.

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