POSTURAL STABILITY EFFECTS IN LOW SEAM MINING TASKS

在井下薄煤层矿井中，人工搬运材料的任务呈现出无数符合人体工程学的危险因素，这对矿工的神经肌肉系统提出了不合理的要求。在受限姿势下的物料搬运和缩放任务将导致潜在的稳定性/平衡损失增加，因此，提升任务分析应包括有关姿势稳定性/平衡的信息。目前，在暴露于地下矿井中常见的单个和/或组合人体工学风险因素的情况下，静态弯腰姿势和动态(步态)弯腰姿势下的材料处理不存在这样的信息。这项拟议的研究提供了在对矿工进行的一系列实验(对每个工人进行41小时的测试)中收集此类信息的设计。例如，在拟议的研究中评估的所有实验条件(包括受限的工作姿势、任务类型、表面滑度、表面不平度以及环境照明和眩光)将使用D部分中描述的既定客观标准对姿势不稳定和/或失去平衡进行排序。此外，在执行模拟工业任务期间经历的滑倒/跌倒次数(在D部分中描述)将使我们能够确定姿势不稳定和/或失去平衡的衡量标准与模拟环境中滑/跌的实际发生率之间的关系。这一结果将(通过增加新的风险因素效应)增强我们现有的与工作场所风险因素(包括环境、工作任务因素)相关联的姿势不稳定预测的统计模型。这些发现将提供一个框架，在这个框架内，未来以矿业工人-人口为基础的前瞻性研究可以设计成解决以下问题。A)为采矿工作场所的设计提供准则，以允许适当的足够的地面间距，以便工人能够增加他们的支撑基础，最大限度地减少姿势不稳定的可能性。B)这些结果可以作为各种地雷相关危险因素组合下姿势不稳定的科学数据输入，作为MSHA培训计划的输入，其中正在开发包括人为因素问题的软件。

The manual material handling tasks in underground low seam mines present a myriad of ergonomic risk factors which places inordinate demands on miners' neuromuscular system. Material handling and scaling tasks in restricted posture will cause potential loss of stability/balance to increase therefore, lifting task analysis should include information about postural stability/balance. Currently such information does not exist for material handling in a static stooped posture and dynamic (gait) stooped posture while exposed to individual and/or combined ergonomic risk factors commonly found in an underground mine. The proposed study provides the design to collect such information in a series of experiments (41 hours of testing on each worker) with miner workers. For example, all experimental conditions (encompassing risk factors such as, restricted work postures, task type, surface slipperiness, surface unevenness, and environmental lighting and glare) to be evaluated in the proposed study will be rank-ordered for postural instability and/or loss of balance using established objective criteria described in Section D. Also, number of slips/falls experienced during the performance of simulated industrial tasks (described in Section D) will allow us to determine the relationship between measures of postural instability and/or loss of balance and actual incidence of slips/falls in the simulated environment. The results will provide enhancement (by adding new risk factor effects) to our existing statistical model of prediction of postural instability assoicated with work place risk factors encompassing environmental, job-task factors. These findings will provide the framework within which future mining worker- population-based prospective studies can be designed to address the following issues. A) Provide guidelines for mining workplace design to allow appropriate sufficient floor spacing so that workers can increase their base of support, minimizing the potential of postural instability. B) The results can be used as scientific data input about postural instability under various combinations of mine related risk factors as input into the MSHA's training programs where softwares are being developed to include human factors issues.