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Associations Between Whole-Body Vibration Exposure and Occupational and Personal Factors in Drill Operators in Indian Iron Ore Mines

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Abstract

Heavy earth-moving machineries used in open-pit mines intensively expose the drill operators to whole-body vibration and shocks and thus to musculoskeletal disorders. The roles of an individual, machine, and rock-related factors in their exposure remain poorly understood. This cross-sectional study investigated their role among 39 drill operators from Indian iron ore mines. It shows that 70% of the operators were exposed to high levels of vibration, above the limit values recommended by ISO 2631-1. Multiple linear regression models showed that the whole-body vibration and shock exposures were strongly associated with operator’s age, drill machine model, rock’s hardness, uniaxial compressive strength, and density. The role of body mass index was close to significance (p = 0.08). Univariate analyses found that drill’s age, seat pad thickness, and seat backrest height were also strong predictors. These results help in identifying risky operators, materials and occupational situations, and in implementing appropriate prevention and intervention to reduce and monitor the exposures and health risk.

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Abbreviations

A(8):

Daily root mean square acceleration exposure

β :

Regression coefficient

BMI:

Body mass index

CF:

Crest factor

CI:

Confidence interval

HGCZ:

Health guidance caution zone

ISO:

International Organization for Standardization

ISRM:

International society for rock mechanics

MPa:

Mega pascal

RMSA:

Root mean square acceleration

p :

Level of significance

R 2 :

Variance explained by a regression model

SD:

Standard deviation

SE:

Standard error

UCS:

Uniaxial compressive strength

VDV:

Vibration dose value

WBV:

Whole-body vibration

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the support received from the management, staff, and workers of the case study mines.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Dhanjee Kumar Chaudhary, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Aditya Kumar Patra & Rahul Upadhyay

  2. National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm), U1178, 97 boulevard de Port Royal, 75679, Paris cedex 14, France

    Nearkasen Chau

  3. University Paris-Sud and University Paris Descartes, UMR-S1178, F-75014, Paris, France

    Nearkasen Chau

Authors
  1. Dhanjee Kumar Chaudhary
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Correspondence to Ashis Bhattacherjee.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 7 Daily exposure limits of whole-body vibration recommended by the ISO 2631-1 Health guidance caution zone (HGCZ) (1997)
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Table 8 Individual data of drill operators in terms of individual, machine and rock-related factors (39 subjects)
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Table 9 Individual data of drill operators in terms of whole-body vibration exposure (39 subjects)
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Fig. 3
figure 3

Three-channel-vibration meter Nor133: (a) Triaxial seat pad accelerometer (Nor1286); (b) three-channel-vibration analyzer (Nor 133)

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Chaudhary, D.K., Bhattacherjee, A., Patra, A.K. et al. Associations Between Whole-Body Vibration Exposure and Occupational and Personal Factors in Drill Operators in Indian Iron Ore Mines. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 36, 495–511 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-019-0061-y

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