POSTURAL STABILITY EFFECTS IN LOW SEAM MINING TASKS

地下低煤层矿井的人工搬运作业存在着诸多人体工程学风险因素，对矿工的神经肌肉系统提出了极高的要求。在受限的姿势下搬运物料和缩放任务会导致潜在的稳定性/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，对于暴露于地下矿山中常见的单个和/或组合人体工程学风险因素的静态弯腰姿势和动态（步态）弯腰姿势的物料搬运，还不存在此类信息。拟议的研究提供了在一系列与矿工的实验（每个工人41小时的测试）中收集这些信息的设计。例如，在拟议的研究中评估的所有实验条件（包括风险因素，如受限制的工作姿势、任务类型、表面光滑、表面不平整以及环境照明和眩光）将使用d节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。在模拟工业任务的执行过程中所经历的滑倒/跌倒的次数（在D节中描述）将使我们能够确定姿势不稳定和/或失去平衡的测量与模拟环境中滑倒/跌倒的实际发生率之间的关系。研究结果将增强（通过增加新的风险因素效应）我们现有的预测与工作场所风险因素（包括环境、工作任务因素）相关的姿势不稳定性的统计模型。这些研究结果将提供一个框架，在这个框架内，未来可以设计以采矿工人人口为基础的前瞻性研究，以解决下列问题。A)为采矿工作场所的设计提供指导，以允许适当的足够的地板间距，以便工人可以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)结果可以作为在各种与矿山相关的风险因素组合下的姿势不稳定的科学数据输入，作为MSHA培训计划的输入，其中正在开发软件以包括人为因素问题。

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.