Posture analysis of face drilling operation in underground mines in india: A case study

Abstract

The face drilling operation is manual in nature in the majority of the underground mines in India. Because of the existence of extreme working environment, use of heavy power drills by a group of operators, and uneven and slippery surface in a confined workspace, the operators have to assume awkward work postures at different heights of the mining face. A number of ergonomic problems, such as different kinds of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), low back pain (LBP) and vibration-induced diseases are reported among these operators, and hence, a biomechanical evaluation of such jobs has become a necessity. In this paper, the details of biomechanical modelling and analysis of different kinds of work postures related to this job are presented. A number of preventive and remedial measures for determining the appropriate values of the parameters for better design for such a job are proposed.