Dataset Information

Cross-Sectional Survey of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Workers Practicing Traditional Methods of Underground Coal Mining.

ABSTRACT: Background: In subcontinental underground mines, coal mining is carried out manually and requires many laborers to practice traditional means of coal excavation. Each task of this occupation disturbs workers' musculoskeletal order. In order to propose and practice possible ergonomic interventions, it is necessary to know what tasks (drilling and blasting, coal cutting, dumping, transporting, timbering and supporting, loading and unloading) cause disorder in either upper limbs, lower limbs, or both. Methods: To this end, R-programming, version R 3.1.2 and SPSS, software 20, were used to calculate data obtained by studying 260 workers (working at different tasks of coal mining) from 20 mines of four districts of Punjab, Pakistan. In addition, a Standard Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (SNMQ) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) sheet were used to collect data and to analyze postures respectively. Results: In multi regression models, significance of the five tasks for upper and lower limb disorder is 0.00, which means that task based prevalence of upper and lower limb disorders are common in underground coal mines. The results of the multiple bar chart showed that 96 coal cutters got upper limb disorders and 82 got lower limb disorders. The task of timbering and supporting was shown to be dangerous for the lower limbs and relatively less dangerous for the upper limbs, with 25 workers reporting pain in their lower limbs, and 19 workers reporting pain in their upper limbs. Documented on the RULA sheet, all tasks got the maximum possible score (7), meaning that each of these tasks pose a threat to the posture of 100% of workers. The majority of participants (182) fell in the age group of 26 to 35 years. Of those workers, 131 reported pain in the lower limbs and slight discomfort (128) in the upper limbs. The significance value of age was 0.00 for upper limb disorder and was 0.012 for lower limb disorder. Frequency graphs show age in direct proportion to severity of pain while in inverse proportion with number of repetitions performed per min. Conclusions: All findings infer that each task of underground coal mining inflicts different levels of disorder in a workers' musculoskeletal structure of the upper and lower limbs. It highlighted the need for urgent intervention in postural aspects of each task.

SUBMITTER: Ijaz M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7177932 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cross-Sectional Survey of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Workers Practicing Traditional Methods of Underground Coal Mining.

Ijaz Madiha M Ahmad Sajid Rashid SR Akram Muhammad M MM Thygerson Steven M SM Ali Nadeem Falaq F Khan Waheed Ullah WU

International journal of environmental research and public health 20200409 7

<i>Background:</i> In subcontinental underground mines, coal mining is carried out manually and requires many laborers to practice traditional means of coal excavation. Each task of this occupation disturbs workers' musculoskeletal order. In order to propose and practice possible ergonomic interventions, it is necessary to know what tasks (drilling and blasting, coal cutting, dumping, transporting, timbering and supporting, loading and unloading) cause disorder in either upper limbs, lower limbs ...[more]

PMID: 32283589

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Project description:This study is to investigate the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and the influencing factors among coal mine workers employed in on-site operations. The job burnout scale and MSD scale were implemented to investigate a random sample of 1,500 coal mine workers working in on-site operations in Xinjiang, China. In total, 1,325 valid questionnaires were collected, with a recovery rate of 88.33% (1,325/1,500). The rate of job burnout was 90%, of which 39.8% were categorized as mild burnout, 43.8% as moderate burnout, and 6.4% as severe burnout; the average job burnout score was 50.77 ± 11.93. The annual prevalence of MSDs was 65.6%, with the highest annual prevalence in the waist (50.7%), followed by the neck, shoulder, and knee, and the lowest prevalence in the elbow (18.8%). Of the areas of the body affected by work-related MSDs, the highest proportion of requests for leave of absence was related to the waist, accounting for 25.7% of requests, while the lowest proportion (13.4%) was related to the wrist. In addition, the incidence of MSDs increased with the years of service. The lowest incidence of MSDs was associated with the two-shift and three-group working pattern. The prevalence of MSDs in the neck and waist was higher in women than in men. The prevalence of MSDs in various body parts increased with the years of service. Moreover, multiple logistic regression indicated that three shifts with four groups (OR = 1.096, 95% CI: 0.832-1.445), working more than 10 years (OR = 3.396, 95% CI: 2.369-5.748), working more than 20 years (OR = 3.008, 95% CI: 1.419-6.337), significant bending (OR = 2.062, 95% CI: 1.400-3.038), forward neck tilting (OR = 1.572, 95% CI: 1.071-2.281), maximum force operation within a short period of time (OR = 1.7222, 95% CI: 1.164-2.547), repeated movement of upper arms or fingers (OR = 1.495, 95% CI: 1.034-2.161), slip or fall incidents (OR = 1.124, 95% CI: 1.039-1.216), work under conditions of cold or temperature variations (OR = 1.911, 95% CI: 1.342-2.720), mild burnout (OR = 1.492, 95% CI: 1.016-2.191), moderate burnout (OR = 1.852, 95% CI: 1.267-2.708), and severe burnout (OR = 2.001, 95% CI: 1.145-3.496) were risk factors for MSDs. In conclusion, there is a high annual prevalence of MSDs among the coal mine workers employed in on-site operations in Xinjiang, China. Measures to reduce this prevalence are required.

Project description:Underground coal mining activities are prone to cause movement and breakage in geological strata and also lead to mining subsidence and even ground fissures. Along the direction working panel advancing, ground fissures may occur in roof in front and/or behind working panel. However, the investigations of previous similarity tests in lab only emphasize on the region behind working panel. By improving strata material property in construction and mounting artificial pressure devices, two physical simulation tests were conducted and successfully investigated the simulated results. Then, the mechanical model of "cantilever beam and elastic foundation beam" was proposed to calculate the stress distribution and the crack initiation angle in overlying strata and it well explains the mechanisms of ground fissures generation and propagation. Results show that, the maximum internal force in roof always occurred in front of working panel. However, because the void space in gob due to excavation is large enough to cause the bend and rotation of roof strata, compare to the triaxially compressed region in front of working panel, the roof always broke off at some positions above gob since the stress concentration resulting from such bend and rotation of strata could easily reach the limit strength of strata rocks. Also, the length of cantilever beam changed dynamically as respect to the panel advancing and the breakage intervals. Thus, the breakage position where the internal force first reached the limit tensile strength is not fixed and there will be two different kinds of relative positions between the crack initiation point and the working panel. The crack initiation direction is always perpendicular to the internal force, and the crack propagation direction is affected by the initiation angle, overburden-separation degree and the position of the hydraulic shields. If there is no overburden-separation or less, the roofs will break off as a composite beam and the propagation direction will be roughly along the central line between the initial broken point and the support position. Otherwise, the roof strata will bend with the support shields moving forward, then the fracture angle will be close to the initiation angle and the fault surface will be stepped.

Dataset Information

Cross-Sectional Survey of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Workers Practicing Traditional Methods of Underground Coal Mining.

Publications

Cross-Sectional Survey of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Workers Practicing Traditional Methods of Underground Coal Mining.

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