Assessment of Whole Body Vibration in the Heavy Mine Vehicles Drivers of Gol Gohar Sirjan Complex

Cars can cause whole body vibration with different intensities which result in discomfort and musculoskeletal disorders in the exposed persons. Heavy mine vehicles based on the working environment, capacity, and power can produce considerable vibration to be transferred to the operator. The purpose of this study was to assess whole body vibration in the drivers of heavy mine vehicles in Gol Gohar Complex in Sirjan. This cross-sectional study was conducted on heavy vehicles in the mining sector, Gol Gohar in Sirjan In this study, vibration of 92 heavy mine vehicles was evaluated according to ISO 2631-1-1997 (R2004) standard. For measurement of whole body vibration, SAVN 958 Vibrometer was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16. The equilibrated acceleration average of the vehicles was 2.179 m/s2 and 1.738m/s2 in graders and bulldozers respectively. Drill cars with 0.479m/s2 had minimum average acceleration. Compared to the general acceleration of vehicle with relevant standards, all vehicles, except the drills, had over 8 hours standard level of care. This study showed that there is much greater vibration than the standard limit in most vehicles of heavy mining and this was even higher than the level of care. So modification of the suspension and seat status is essential.