PURPOSE:  Through the use of training programs and engineering interventions, to promote successful aging and reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injury for all ages of workers in the mining industry.

RESEARCH SUMMARY:  Workers employed in the mining industry have historically been involved in physically demanding work, and as a group they are older than workers in general industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (2004) estimated that the median age of the coal mine worker in 2004 was 45.9 years old while the median age overall for the U.S. employee was 40.5 years. These statistics indicate that a substantial section of the mining workforce may have started experiencing the normal physical changes that accompany aging, such as reduced strength and flexibility, decreases in contrast sensitivity and dark adaptation, and reduced aerobic capacity.

Project SAME focuses exclusively on using ergonomics to mediate age-related physical changes in mine workers and promote safer working procedures for all ages of employees. Stakeholder input and analysis of MSHA injury data indicate that the following highest priority areas should be targeted:

• Intervention efforts must target all ages of employees with the intent of limiting musculoskeletal injuries to our older workers and preventing musculoskeletal injuries in our younger workers. To address this issue, our prevention efforts will include the development of a training program to increase awareness of the changes that occur with the normal aging process and to learn how to mediate those changes through job re-design.
• The back is the most frequently affected part of the body, back injuries often re-occur with age, and back injuries tend to be more expensive than injuries that occur to other parts of the body. We are developing a better tool to assess the risk of back injury in miners and allow for effective engineering interventions.
• Slips and falls tend to occur more frequently in older workers, and they are often more severe for older workers; slips and falls can occur while walking or while getting on or off a piece of equipment. We are approaching this problem in a multi-faceted manner and plan to provide the mining industry with better suggestions for boot design, work procedures, and safer methods for ingress and egress from equipment.

We have learned that with increasing worker age come greater percentages of MSDs, more recurrent back injuries, and more slips and falls. Expected outcomes include the reduction in the percentage of MSDs with increasing age and also a reduction of MSDs for back injuries and slips and falls. Interventions from this project are applicable to industries such as construction and agriculture.