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Abstract
The development and testing of ergonomics and safety audits for small and bulk bag filling, haul truck and maintenance and repair operations in coal preparation and mineral processing plants found at surface mine sites is described. The content for the audits was derived from diverse sources of information on ergonomics and safety deficiencies including: analysis of injury, illness and fatality data and reports; task analysis; empirical laboratory studies of particular tasks; field studies and observations at mine sites; and maintenance records. These diverse sources of information were utilised to establish construct validity of the modular audits that were developed for use by mine safety personnel. User and interrater reliability testing was carried out prior to finalising the audits. The audits can be implemented using downloadable paper versions or with a free mobile NIOSH-developed Android application called ErgoMine.
Practitioner Summary: The methodology used to develop ergonomics audits for three types of mining operations is described. Various sources of audit content are compared and contrasted to serve as a guide for developing ergonomics audits for other occupational contexts.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of numerous organisations and individuals for contributions to the research described here. We would like to thank all the mine companies and miners that made their facilities and time available to us during data collection and testing, which was a significant commitment of personnel and time in many cases. The participants in the lab and field studies made those studies possible, and we thank them for volunteering. A shorter conference paper reporting on progress of this project was presented at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2012 Annual Meeting in Boston, MA.