MACKAY SUGAR LOCOMOTIVE HUMAN VIBRATION INVESTIGATION

The Mackay Sugar Locomotive Human Vibration Investigation was carried out after an industry related report compiled by the Division of Workplace Health and Safety found that a selection of Mackay Sugar locomotive types may exceed the recommended human vibration exposure levels. This Division of Workplace Heath and Safety report entitled ‘Preliminary Survey of Whole Body Vibration Exposure of Mackay Sugar Trains’ led to Mackay Sugar being issued with an improvement notice specifying the requirement for further investigation into human vibration exposure levels experienced by locomotive drivers. Whole body vibration measurements were carried out on a series of 0-6-0 Clyde (side-rod) and Baldwin (bogie) locomotives. In order to evaluate the measured vibration magnitudes with respect to health, ISO 2631-1:1997 and ISO 8041:1990 were employed. Resulting measurements showed that many of the 0-6-0 Clyde locomotives did exceed the recommended health risk limits, while all of the tested Baldwin locomotives were classed satisfactory. Following these results, the worst case 0-6-0 Clyde locomotive (Lacy) was selected for further detailed investigation. Alterations made to this particular locomotive throughout the investigation included the installation of a specially designed human vibration seating assembly and repairs to the locomotive’s running gear. Subsequent human whole body vibration measurements indicated a noticeable improvement, lowering the initial vibration levels to well below the recommended health risk limits.