Mining Project: Investigation of Simple Cost Effective Whole-Body Vibration Measure Tools: Capabilities, Vibration Measures, & Expansion

Principal Investigator	Alan Mayton - Request information
Start Date	1/3/2017
Objective	To assess the accuracy of the whole-body vibration app and determine if its capabilities can be expanded to include seat transmissibility.
Topic Area	Ergonomics and MSD Prevention

Research Summary

Whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure poses significant risk to the health and safety of exposed mine workers and can also have damaging effects on equipment. Off-road mining equipment operates on rough surfaces under harsh operating conditions that produce WBV and mechanical shock. Vibration is often complex, contains many frequencies, occurs in several directions, and changes over time. WBV exposure can cause muscles to contract in a voluntary or involuntary way and lead to fatigue or a lowering of motor performance capacity. Research points to WBV as a contributing factor in the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the spine among workers exposed to a vibration environment.

There is a significant need for the preventing vibration-induced injuries through improved awareness of vibration exposure. Operators of large, off-road, mobile mining equipment and vehicles are exposed to WBV on a routine basis. There is growing awareness in the mining community of the issues surrounding WBV exposures to mining equipment operators. However, mining companies do not have a simple and low-cost means for assessing the WBV exposures of operators on off-road mining vehicles and equipment. Moreover, there is not a simple, low-cost, yet effective way for mine managers to recognize when a vehicle seat may need to be repaired, replaced, or adjusted due to its poor vibration attenuation. This is important in that an off-road heavy vehicle seat can range from $400 to $3,000, depending on its design and features. Presently, WBV measurement systems are somewhat complex, involving a recording device with other accessory instruments, such as accelerometers that must be used together with the recording device, at a cost from $5,000 to $11,000.

This pilot research project will address the need for a single, low-cost device by evaluating the use of a commercially available mobile app and determining its accuracy and ability to quantify seat transmissibility. A whole-body vibration application (WBV App), which collects accelerometer data and calculates frequency-weighted estimates of WBV exposure, has been successfully applied to surface coal mining operations in Australia. This WBV App has the potential to supply mining companies with the capability to use a single device to collect exposure data and assess risk.

The project objective will be met through the completion of two research aims, summarized as follows.

Research Aim 1. Conduct field evaluations to determine the accuracy of WBV App on an iPod Touch device as compared to the Siemens/LMS SCADAS data recording system.

Research Aim 2. To conduct a field evaluation using two iPod Touch devices running the WBV App to quantify seat transmissibility.

The successful completion of this pilot work will provide mine managers with a useful and affordable tool for assessing WBV levels for vehicle operators. Mining companies will then be able to use the WBV App to routinely monitor and assess the WBV exposure of their vehicle operators and to perform necessary maintenance and repair activities to reduce the exposure of equipment operators to the damaging effects of WBV. Successful completion of this pilot research may also lead to a full project focused on further expanding the capabilities of the WBV App to include other relevant measures such as location through GPS coordinates and vehicle operator input. Recommendations for vibration mitigation strategies may also be incorporated.

---