Heat Stress in Hot Underground Mines: a Brief Literature Review
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Heat Stress in Hot Underground Mines: a Brief Literature Review Paloma Lazaro 1
&
Moe Momayez 1
Received: 29 April 2020 / Accepted: 28 September 2020 # Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. 2020
Abstract Interactions between human beings and their work environment require the body to regulate its temperature by balancing heat production and loss. Comfortable environmental conditions are crucial for keeping workers safe and healthy and to maintain a suitable level of productivity. However, achieving a proper core body temperature may become challenging under different conditions, especially in high heat-generating workplaces such as hot underground mines. Because hot underground mines have the potential to expose workers to heat stress, compliance with standardized and regulated indices and criteria is distinctly required. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the current research on heat stress and strain in hot underground mines, collected from published and specialized literature. General definitions, statistics of heat-related accidents in mining, overview of the indices, standards, and recommendations for heat stress are provided herein. Keywords Heat . Hot environments . Underground mines . Heat stress . Heat strain . Heat indices
1 Introduction It only takes a 1 °C change in core body temperature (CBT) to break the body’s temperature balance and cause the heart, respiratory, and nervous systems to malfunction. Hot underground mines could severely impact mineworker health during a normal shift, as they may be exposed to heat from strata, auto-compression, machinery, metabolic heat, and other sources (Ryan A, Euler DS., 2017). The fundamental requirement for the human body to function under normal conditions is to maintain the body’s core temperature within the range of 37 °C ± 1 °C. A constant exchange of heat between the body and the environment is required to regulate the core temperature [1]. The heat exchange, however, is a complex and dynamic process of thermoregulation between the body’s cells and their surroundings mainly due to the thermal gradient (conduction), the transfer of heat through fluids (e.g., blood) caused by molecular motion (convection), and other forms of exchange such as radiation and evaporation on the skin surface. Therefore, the thermal and physiological properties of the human cells and their production of metabolic heat will largely determine the nature
* Paloma Lazaro [email protected] 1
Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, The University of Arizona, 1235 James E. Rogers Way, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
of the internal heat transfer and, hence, the body’s heat exchange [2]. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recognizes that workers in occupations such as mining, agriculture, and construction are particularly susceptible to death due to heat stroke. Frequently, these deaths are attributed to “unacclimated workers.” Across all industries, 30 workers have died every year between 2003 and 2012 due to h
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