The effect of cap lamp lighting on postural control and stability

Abstract

Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are conducting mine illumination research with the objective of improving miner safety. Slips, trips, and falls (STFs) are the second leading accident class (18.1%, n = 2,374) of nonfatal lost-time injuries at underground mines (MSHA, 2005(MSHA, -2009. Factors contributing to STFs include recognition of hazards as well as postural balance and age. Improved lighting may enable better hazard recognition and reduce the impact of postural balance and age. Previous research has shown that cap lamp technology that used light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has improved hazard detection. This study was an initial investigation to determine if cap lamp lighting significantly influences measures of static postural stability (displacement and velocity of center of pressure). Results of this investigation showed no significant differences in the balance measures of interest between cap lamps tested. However, balance was shown to significantly decline (p < 0.05) when tested in an underground coal mine compared to the laboratory testing condition. Relevance to industry: Underground coal mine workers wear cap lamps on their hard hats as their primary light source to illuminate nearby areas where their vision is directed. Proper illumination may improve miner safety by improving their STF hazard recognition and balance.

The effects of 3D interface metaphor on older adults’ mobile navigation performance and subjective evaluation

“…Finally, the operators stated that improved lighting on and around their equipment may help with improving safety during ingress and egress. In the recent decade, lighting has been a major focus of mine safety research as a means to prevent STF and struck-by accidents (Sammarco et al, 2012;Yenchek and Sammarco, 2010). However, much of this research has been focused on improving lighting for underground mines and replacing standard incandescent lighting with light-emitting diodes to improve the amount of light, improve visual performance, reduce glare, reduce power consumption, and reduce required maintenance (Sammarco et al, 2009).…”

A Novel Mine Cage Safety Monitoring Algorithm Utilizing Visible Light

“…Compared with other wireless signals [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], visible light has the advantages of green safety [ 13 , 14 ], less multi-path effect [ 15 ], no electromagnetic effect [ 16 , 17 , 18 ] and strong resistance to electromagnetic interference [ 19 , 20 , 21 ]. The crucial thing is that the lighting equipment already present in the mine brings great convenience to our equipment deployment [ 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Nowadays, there are many innovative research papers and excellent results that apply visible light technologies, including visible light communications (VLC) technology and visible light positioning (VLP) technology to the underground mine environment, benefiting from the above-mentioned advantages of visible light.…”