Assessing the Impact of Occupational Vibration Exposure on Vehicle Drivers

Introduction: The scientific and practical relevance of the study stems from the importance to maintain health of a large occupational cohort, improve road safety, and develop new comfort standards for advanced transport systems.

Objective: To summarize the experience of assessing the impact of vibration on vehicle drivers based on the results of hygienic studies and biomechanical calculations using long-haul truck drivers and locomotive crew members as examples.

Materials and Methods: Whole-body vibration of drivers was measured on trucks and freight locomotives.  Measurements and evaluation were carried out by the accredited laboratory of the North-West Public Health Research Center. The work was performed on a biomechanical model simulating the human musculoskeletal system; to quantify the impact, the compression load on the spine was calculated. To quantify the impact of vibration on the lumbosacral spine, the compressive load on the spine was calculated.

Statistical processing of the obtained data was performed using Microsoft Excel 2019 software.

Results: We established an exponential increase in the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. Over the first 10 years of work, the disease probability increased by ca. 30 % (from a baseline of 3 % to 33.6 %), by ca. 36 % (from 33.6 % to 69.7 %) over the following ten years, and by ca. 19.6 % (from 69.7 % to 89.3 %) in the period of 20 to 30 years of current employment.

Conclusions: Our findings show that the vibration exposure of truck drivers is chaotic and depends on a random factor (road surface quality) while that of locomotive crew members is more regular but contains dangerous low-frequency and jerky components that have a stronger effect on the lumbosacral region. In terms of severity, health disorders in locomotive crew members develop more clearly and predictably owing to the stability and invariability of their whole-body vibration exposure over decades. Truck drivers, on the opposite, suffer from a wider range of diseases. Spinal cord injury is a common and severe health outcome for both occupational groups. The presented model clearly demonstrates the likelihood of developing musculoskeletal disorders in workers exposed to vibration. This requires a comprehensive revision of work organization, including limiting the maximum number of years of employment in such jobs and creating effective early rehabilitation programs.

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