Assessment of the vibrational health risk in mining trucks operation

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.