A visual warning system to reduce struck-by or pinning accidents involving mobile mining equipment

Abstract

This paper describes an experiment to examine whether a visual warning system can improve detection of moving machine hazards that could result in struck-by or pinning accidents. Thirtysix participants, twelve each in one of three age groups, participated in the study. A visual warning system capable of providing four different modes of warning was installed on a continuous mining machine that is used to mine coal. The speed of detecting various machine movements was recorded with and without the visual warning system. The average speed of detection for forward and reverse machine movements was reduced by 75% when using the flashing mode of the visual warning system. This translated to 0.485 m of machine travel for the fast speed condition of 19.8 m/min, which is significant in the context of the confined spaces of a mine. There were no statistically significant differences among age groups in the ability to detect machine movements for the visual warning modes in this study. The visual warning system shows promise as a safety intervention for reducing struck-by or pinning accidents involving continuous mining machines. The methods and results of this study could be applied to other moving machinery used in mining or other industries where moving machinery poses struck-by or pinning hazards.

A Visual Warning System for the Identification of Proximity Detection Events around a Continuous Mining Machine

“…The VWS was the result of previous NIOSH research (Sammarco et al, 2012), but was modified to accept input from the proximity detection system (as illustrated in Figure 3) and reprogrammed to handle the new lighting sequences.…”

Saúde do trabalhador e riscos ocupacionais na mineração

“…Estudos internacionais que enfatizam a promoção de saúde, prevenção de riscos e doenças elencam medidas alternativas para minimizar a exposição e, consequentemente, o adoecimento do trabalhador: vigilância em saúde, higiene industrial e controle de poluentes atmosféricos , participação dos atores sociais , alerta visual 42 , adequações dos equipamentos e instrumentos de trabalho, como no design dos veículos 43 .…”

Visual feedback system to reduce errors while operating roof bolting machines

“…A current technology being developed at the NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) gave promising results of reducing time for subjects to detect and identify the direction of movement of a continuous mining machine when operators were standing in different operating positions during backing out and tramming tasks (Sammarco, Gallagher, Mayton, & Srednicki, 2012). The results indicated that in a dark environment, such as found in a mine, the visual feedback system on the continuous mining machine in this study "vastly improves an individual's ability to quickly detect machine motions, in many cases by well over one second".…”