Whole- body vibration of heavy mobile equipment operators at an open cast mine.

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The measurement and analysis of whole-body vibration was done in accordancewith ISO 2631-1 at a South African opencast mine to identify potentially unhealthy levels of vibration present in vehicles. Impulsive whole-body vibration was found on all measured vehicles and 90.6% of test cases showed possiblyunhealthy levels of vibration exposure. The impulsiveness of the vibration led to the underestimation of the exposure by the RMS method. Bulldozer operatorswere exposed to the highest average levels of whole-body vibration. It is strongly advised that the use of high exposure vehicles are limited and that job rotation is implemented to limit the vibration exposure of these individuals.The vehicle tasks are used for as well as operating conditions were found tohave a significant impact on whole-body vibration.A suitable measurement duration for different types of vehicles were statistically identified and it was found that measurement durations greater than 30 min and 60 min are sufficient to measure whole-body vibration with measurement errors of less than 25% (sufficient accuracy) and 12.5% (preferable accuracy) respectively.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University