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Health and safety of workers in the industrial environment remained a concern, and providing a safe work culture is top priority of the management. Mining Industry being one of the high-stress workplace witness different occupational health and safety issues. In this work, we envisioned a healthy work environment for the mining workforce and carrie...
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Citations
The mining industry is facing a technological shift with Industry 4.0 creating new conditions for mining. This is often referred to as Mining 4.0. To succeed through the technological shift, the industry need to handle several challenges wisely, such as how to utilise the new digital technology to promote sustainable work environments, how to recruit skilled workers to the industry, and how to manage organisational challenges as a result of the technological shift. This scoping literature review examines a large field of literature on how Mining 4.0 might affect the mining industry in areas such as work environment, competences, organisation and society, and what can be done to promote sustainability going forward. The paper also identifies several areas that have not been explored in previous research. These include empirical studies on the effects of the technological shift brought about by Mining 4.0 on work environments, and how to attract younger generations to mining to ensure sustainability in the industry going forward.
Background
Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSDs) are very much prevalent with nearly 1.71 billion people having musculoskeletal disorders all around the world. Many factors contribute to the development of WRMSDs specially in the labour-intensive mining industry. Ergonomics-based studies have not been able to thoroughly address or delineate the causative factors of WRMSDs.
Purpose
Aim of this study is to present an overview of WRMSDs in the mining sector, with emphasis on causative and associative factors which have been illustrated through published research. We also sought out to identify the cardinal research gaps and propose a way to put forward context-specific solutions.
Methods
Relevant research publications were identified from electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, Web of science and Google Scholar), using appropriate search terms applicable to the mining sector and WRMSDs. The search was restricted to journal papers, conference proceedings, books, reports, and relevant websites in the English language published between 1991 and 2021(July). We then systematically assessed the results of these previously published research to derive specific conclusions.
Results
After various stages of screening, a total of 51 studies were finally included and considered for the review. Exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) was cited as a causative factor of WRMSDs in 23 studies (with eight strong, five moderate, nine weak associations), 15 studies reported awkward or long-period of postures (four strong, two moderate, eight weak associations), seven studies reported repetitive movement, demographic factors like age, 11 studies, BMI seven studies, gender three studies and smoking two studies. Four studies reported psychological factors and 26 studies reported other factors leading to development of WRMSDs.
Conclusions
There is clear evidence of weak, moderate to strong strength of association, between the risk factors and WRMSDs among mine workers. Whole body vibration study of modern underground mine machinery operators and the combined effect of dynamic posture with WBV exposure are not clearly known. Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among underground machine operators should be studied on a large scale and more attention should be paid towards alleviating specific causative factors of WRMSDs.
