Human vibration levels in the South African mining industry

The prevalence of noise, and its effects on the health and safety of miners has been extensively studied in the mining and related industries. Mechanical vibration has received far less attention. Recent events in South Africa, such as the de-politicization of the unions, an increased awareness of the role of health and safety in the workplace and new health and safety legislation warrant a fresh look at this problem. The University of Pretoria, in association with the Human Factors Research Unit at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research in Southampton, was commissioned by the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Council in 1998 to perform a comprehensive survey of the levels of vibration that workers are exposed to in the South African mining industry. This article reports on the results of the study and includes an assessment of the current situation. Prior to this investigation no objective, quantifiable data were available from which the incidence and extent of harmful vibration levels in the South African mining industry could be estimated. The primary purpose of this study was to provide such a data set that will consist of vibration measurements on a wide range of equipment currently used in the South African mining industry. To measure vibration levels on all equipment in use on South African mines is clearly an impossible task. Even to measure on only that equipment previously determined by subjective evaluation to have ‘high’ vibration levels is a daunting task. For this project it was decided to survey as wide a range of equipment as possible in order to obtain a general overview of the current state of affairs. For a select set of equipment, which was determined during the course of the measurements, a more detailed investigation was pursued. From the outset it was clear that rock drills would definitely form one such set. Human vibration levels in the South African mining industry