Prioritization of practical solutions for the vibrational health risk reduction of mining trucks using fuzzy decision making

Abstract

The goal of this article was to prioritize the practical solutions for vibrational health risk reduction of truck drivers during mining operation using the multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. Mining trucks require special consideration because of their specific suspension system, large size, payload capacity, and off-road conditions of mining. In most cases, it is not easy for decision makers to compute verbal and linguistic variables, whose values are expressed in linguistic terms. These uncertainties and ambiguities are well interpreted by using fuzzy set theory. In this study, the MCDM methods were used under fuzzy environment. As a result, seat suspension maintenance was offered as the best solution to attenuate the vibrations and decrease the injuries related to the WBV exposure. The driver training, haul road construction and maintenance, lighting and visibility improvement and work organization were found as the other solutions, respectively.

Keywords:

• Whole body vibration
• mining trucks
• fuzzy set
• MCDM

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank workers and managers of Sungun Copper Mine of Iran for their kind support during the field studies and data collections.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.