As with all jobs, working in the mining industry carries risks. Some inherent risks include slips, trips or falls, impacts with moving machinery or objects, manual handling and body stressing.
From 2001/2002 to 2014/2015 39% of workers compensation claims were due to body stressing.
Body stressing is commonly caused by many repetitive or physical activities, work is only one of the
potential causes.
Injuries caused by body stressing can be as severe as Tendonitis (pain and swelling in the muscle tendons) / Tenosynovitis (inflammation on the fluid sheath surrounding tendons), back pains or as simple as muscle aches and pains. They are often described as Musculoskeletal Disorders.
Having a comprehensive workplace health and safety program that includes information and
education on how to control body stressing hazards in the workplace is important, as well as worker
feedback on controls and preventative measures that have been put in place. As always with all
health and safety hazards, prevention is better than a cure, and risk management is the best
prevention for Body Stressing.
Repetitive movement or sustained force, vibration exposure and sudden, repetitive, sustained or hard force are all potential body stress risk factors. Risk assessments will provide a thorough understanding of the hazards involved and how best to manage them.
Appropriate workplace procedures and design and working with the correct tools and equipment in a safe way will help prevent potential body stress hazards to help keep our mining workplaces safe.
