<p>During dusk, nighttime, and dawn operations, effective illumination is a crucial component of safety for getting on/off mobile surface mining equipment and for pre-shift inspections. Injury/illness data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) show that slips, trips, or falls (STF) are the second leading cause of non-fatal incidents. Insufficient or ineffective lighting is a factor associated with non-fatal incidents and injuries. Mobile equipment operators are among the most common surface mine worker occupations associated with non-fatal incidents reported to MSHA. Mobile equipment operators in the surface mining industry are routinely exposed to slips-trip-fall hazards. Getting on/off the equipment (ingress/egress) contributes frequently to the highest number of non-fatal incidents. Furthermore, results of a recent study revealed that mobile equipment operators believed proper illumination is an important element of safety for ingress/egress systems. Previously, Mayton and Nasarwanji examined illuminance levels on and about mobile surface mining equipment and their ingress/egress systems. They noted that illuminance levels were inadequate compared to levels recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society. Subsequently, NIOSH researchers conducted a study to determine whether illuminance levels could be improved for ingress/egress systems and pre-shift walkaround inspections of equipment using area luminaires with light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. Illumination and glare were key metrics evaluated. Although headlamps provided adequate illumination, LED area luminaires illuminated a much broader area compared to the narrow spot lighting of the headlamp. Hence, the use of additional area luminaires can increase STF hazard awareness and detection. &nbsp;Furthermore, a commercially available luminaire demonstrated better results than a custom LED luminaire relative to discomfort and disability glare.</p>

Enhanced Lighting Lowers Risk of Slips-Trips-Falls for  Mobile Equipment Operators at Surface Mines

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2021/volume/85369

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