Musculoskeletal disorders, personality traits, psychological distress, and accident proneness of Chinese coal miners.

BACKGROUND

Human factors comprise one of the important reasons leading to the casualty accidents in coal mines.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships among musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), personality traits, psychological distress, and accident proneness of coal miners.

PARTICIPANTS

There were 1500 Chinese coal miners surveyed in this study. Among these miners, 992 valid samples were obtained.

METHODS

The study surveyed the MSDs, personality traits, psychological distress, and accident proneness of coal miners with MSDs Likert scale, Eysenck personality questionnaire, Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) scale, and accident proneness questionnaire, respectively.

RESULTS

The highest MSDs level was found in the waist. The increasing working age of the miners was connected with increased MSDs and psychological distress. Significant differences in MSDs and psychological distress of miners from different types of work were observed. Coal miners with higher MSDs had higher accident proneness. Coal miners with higher neuroticism dimension of Eysenck personality and more serious psychological distress had higher accident proneness. Phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation and psychoticism dimension of psychological distress were the three most important indicators that had significant positive relationships with accident proneness.

CONCLUSION

The MSDs, neuroticism dimension, and psychological distress of the coal mine workers are important to work safety and require serious attention. Some implications concerning coal mine safety management in China were provided.