Engineering & Mining Journal

FEB 2018

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

Issue link: https://emj.epubxp.com/i/938385

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 40 of 59

MINE SAFETY FEBRUARY 2018 • E&MJ; 39 www.e-mj.com Contribute to the future of the mining industry www.euromineexpo.com 12 -14 J U N I 2 0 18 | S K E L L E F T E Å , S W E D E N EURO MINE EXPO Machine learning, fossil free mining, market development, safety, sustainability, automation and digitalization and other interesting topics will be discussed at Euro Mine Expo 2018. Par- ticipate at Euro Mine Expo - Contribute to the future of the mining industry! International trade fair & conference PARTNER: the challenge of getting enough light ex- posure while underground (Boyce, 2014). Measuring Fatigue People experience fatigue to varying de- grees, and fatigue-causing factors affect some more than others. A person's age or general health might affect their sensitiv- ity to fatigue. However, there are ways to measure fatigue, which can be a positive first step in addressing it. Subjective Methods–Subjective meth- ods for measuring an individual's fatigue include surveys and self-questionnaires, such as the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Although this scale does not exactly mea- sure "severity," it does help to evaluate the impact that fatigue has on a person's daily life. In the same way, the Psycho- motor Vigilance Test (PVT) determines the impact of fatigue by measuring reaction time and alertness, and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) assesses subjec- tively how sleepy a person feels. Thus, these methods give a way to understand the problem on an individual level. Objective Methods–More direct meth- ods, such as measuring a person's core body temperature or taking blood samples to measure hormone levels, can deter- mine if there is a disruption of circadian rhythms. However, these procedures are highly invasive and cannot easily be done in real time, making them impractical for measuring fatigue in a working mine. Sa- liva tests to measure the hormone mela- tonin, a common indicator for circadian rhythms, are somewhat more practical. Other methods seek to identify fatigue as it happens. These include facial recognition and eye-tracking technology, which monitor a worker's apparent fatigue level. This ap- proach can make workers uncomfortable, as they might consider it an invasion of pri- vacy or disruptive to their work. Dealing With Fatigue A more active way of addressing worker fatigue is to use a preventative method. To control worker schedules and help limit shift work and excessive overtime, mine operators can implement a fatigue management system. These types of sys- tems may help to manage fatigue result- ing from shift work by first detecting and tracking it, and then making changes to either avoid or manage fatigue over time. Yet for underground miners, even with a fatigue management system in place there is still the problem with lack of sufficient light. In this case, a lighting intervention may help to prevent the disruption of circa- dian rhythms. Other workers facing a sim- ilar issue are those working in Antarctica, who spend the sunless winter months in dark, isolated areas where the only light is from artificial sources. Similarly, the crew aboard U.S. Navy submarines may spend months at sea without natural light while

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Engineering & Mining Journal - FEB 2018