Worker noise exposures from diesel and electric surface coal mining machinery

A comparative study of noise produced from diesel and electric mining machinery in an opencast coal mine was made. It was found that the diesel machines produced higher environmental noise than the electric machines. The projected and measured operator’s noise dose for 8-hour also showed that the diesel machines produced higher noise than the electric machines. The recorded sound levels and the noise dose for different machines and the crusher house were compared with the regulatory limits. With electric drill machines, drilling in hard rock produced higher noise levels than drilling in soft rock. This can be used to characterize the rock for blast designs.