Abstract:
Vibration levels on a variety of equipment in a South African
opencast mine were measured in this study. The well-established
ISO 2631-1 (1997) standard methodology was used for the
computation of weighted root mean square (WRMS) and vibration
dose value (VDV). This method was used to evaluate the wholebody
vibration (WBV) on a wide range of equipment in the opencast
mine using the two main parameters, namely the daily exposure
A(8) which is based on the WRMS concept and the VDV which
measures shocks. The results obtained show that while the majority
of the equipment rendered exposure levels that are below the
exposure limit value (ELV), exposure levels on about half of the
equipment do exceed the exposure action levels. The study also
highlights the importance of shock in the observed responses.
