Assessment of the vibrational health risk in mining trucks operation: Driver's health and safety

Mining vehicles expose drivers to a significant level of vibration. If these vibrations exceed the standard levels, they can have an adverse musculoskeletal effect on the driver's health and safety. Among all mining vehicles, haul trucks transfer a significant amount of vibration to operators. This paper aims to assess the health risks caused by whole-body vibrations to the drivers of loading and hauling vehicles at the ShahVali Marlstone mine in Birjand, Iran. To achieve this, 13 dump trucks with capacities ranging from 20 to 35 tons were selected for data collection under normal operating conditions. Then, the whole-body vibration of the drivers was measured and analyzed according to the 2631-1 and -5 ISO. Regarding the results of this study, all vehicles have medium to high levels of vibrational health risk. The rigid truck had the highest level of harmful vibrations compared to articulated ones. According to ISO 2631-1, the average vibration magnitude for rigid truck drivers was 1.5 times greater than that of articulated truck drivers, while the vibrational health risk assessed by ISO 2631-5 was at higher levels. The mean seat isolation efficiency for rigid and articulated trucks was 84% and 72%, respectively. This indicated that seats with mechanical suspension systems transferred a higher level of harmful vibrations to the drivers compared to seats equipped with an air suspension system. Moreover, the mean acceptable truck operation time limit for articulated trucks is approximately 2.5 times shorter than that of rigid trucks.