By Mahiyar F. Nasarwanji, Ph.D., National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
Slips and falls from heavy mobile equipment continue to be an issue in mining. Slips and falls commonly occur during the ingress/egress process with root causes being largely unknown. The NIOSH Mining program conducted research to determine the injury mechanism and equipment characteristics associated with front end loader ingress/egress injuries. This work included reviewing injuries reported to MSHA and identifying the elements of the system that equipment operators feel create difficulty while getting on or off of their equipment. This research highlights the need for improved mobile equipment ingress/egress systems and provides areas for design improvement.