The human factors of mineworker fatigue: An overview on prevalence, mitigation, and what's next

Abstract

Background: Though mining remains a vital shiftwork industry for U.S. commerce, problems of continued prevalence of mineworker fatigue and its mitigation persist. Publications and reports on fatigue in mining appear to be rich and diverse, yet variable and remote, much like the industry itself.

Methods: The authors engaged in a brief nonexhaustive overview of the literature on sleep and fatigue among mineworking populations.

Results: This overview covers: potential sources of fatigue unique to mine work (e.g., monotonous and disengaging Work Tasks, underground environments and light exposure, remote work operations); evaluation of mitigation strategies for mineworker fatigue or working hours (e.g., shift-scheduling and training); and areas for future research and practice (e.g., fatigue risk management systems in mining, mineworker sleep and fatigue surveillance, lighting interventions, and automation).

Conclusions: Fatigue continues to be a critical challenge for the mining industry. While research on the problems and solutions of mineworker fatigue has been limited to date, the future of fatigue research in mining can expand these findings by exploring the origins, nature, and outcomes of fatigue using advancements in lighting, automation, and fatigue risk management.

Keywords: lighting; mineworker fatigue; mining; occupational health and safety; review; shift-scheduling; sleep; underground mining; work-life balance; workplace interventions.