T e c h n i c a L P a P e r s

54 November 2007 miNiNg eNgiNeeriNg

paper number Tp-06-014. original manuscript submitted February 

2007. revised manuscript accepted for publication august 2007. 

discussion of this peer-reviewed and approved paper is invited and 

must be submitted to sme publications dept. prior to Feb. 29, 2008.

Ergonomic interventions at 

Vulcan Materials Company


J. Torma-KraJewsKi, C. Hipes, L. sTeiner 

and r. Burgess-LimeriCK 

J. Torma-Krajewski is lead research scientist with niosH, 

pittsburgh, pa; C. Hipes is safety and health representative with 

Vulcan materials Company, Chester, Va; L. Steiner is team leader, 

ergonomics section, niosH, pittsburgh, pa; R. Burgess-Limerick 

is associate professor with the university of Queensland, australia. 

Abstract 

Although many mining companies apply ergonomic principles,it is usually done either informally and/or reactively. 

An example of an informal approach is replacing worn 

equipment (such as seats) with models that have ergonomic 

features.Another example is modifying a task to eliminate 

safety hazards. Such approaches reduce risk-factor exposures that can lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). 

A reactive approach is followed when modifying a task/ 

equipment after an MSD occurs. However, neither of these 

approaches involves a systematic method of proactively 

applying ergonomic principles to actually prevent injuries 

or illnesses. This paper discusses how Vulcan Materials 

Company applied ergonomic principles and implemented 

interventions to reduce risk-factor exposures. 

Introduction 

According to the International 

Ergonomics Association (2000), ergonomics is concerned with understanding interactions among people 

and other elements of a system to 

optimize their wellbeing and overall 

system performance. This is generally accomplished by applying ergonomic principles to the design and 

evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, 

environments and systems to match 

them with the needs, capabilities and 

limitations of people. When integrated with safety and health programs, ergonomics can be 

viewed as an approach to reduce injury and illness rates 

and to improve the overall working conditions for employees by addressing risk-factor exposures that may occur during manual tasks. These exposures are most often 

associated with musculoskeletal disorders, but they may 

also result in other disorders and illnesses, such as heatstress disorders or vibration-related illnesses. Manual 

tasks include any activity requiring the worker to grasp, 

manipulate, strike, throw, carry, move, hold or restrain an 

object, load or body part. 

Unlike office and manufacturing settings, mining is often characterized by physically demanding manual tasks 

performed under dynamic, non-routine working conditions, often in harsh environments, including restricted 

spaces (Steiner et al., 1999; Scharf et al., 2001). Consequently, greater challenges sometimes exist for applying 

ergonomic principles, particularly when typical solutions 

cannot be applied because of the environmental and dynamic conditions. 

In 2005, the National Institue for Occupational Safety 

and Health (NIOSH) and Vulcan Materials Company 

formed a partnership to demonstrate 

the efficacy of applying ergonomic 

principles in mining environments. 

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Vulcan applied ergonomic 

principles and adapted the implementation process to meet its organizational and cultural needs. 

Process implementation 

Vulcan Materials Company is 

the largest producer of construction 

aggregates (crushed stone, sand and 

gravel) in the United States. Vulcan 

has more than 356 facilities in 21 states, the District of Columbia and Mexico and has more than 6,000 employees. 

The facilities are diverse in function and include stone 

quarries, sand and gravel plants, sales yards, asphalt plants 

and ready-mix concrete plants. In 2004, Vulcan shipped 

220 Mt (243 million st) of aggregates. 

As a company, the basic organizations within Vulcan 

are seven autonomous divisions. The safety program is 

multilevel with safety, health and environmental (SHE) 

teams at the plant level, a safety and health department at 

the division level (safety manager and safety and health 

(S&H) representatives) and a safety and health department at the corporate level (safety director and two 

safety professionals). Members of the plant SHE teams 

include two to four hourly employees who volunteer for 

this assignment.The main functions of the SHE teams are 

to conduct periodic inspections of the site and to report 

the findings to the plant manager. The division safety 

staff provides technical support to the plant management 

and SHE teams, while the corporate safety staff provides 

technical support to the division safety department. 

As a member of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA), Vulcan committed in 2002 to 

reduce its overall injury rate by 50 percent within five 

years. Vulcan immediately took steps to address safety 

and health hazards, which resulted in significant reductions in its injury rate; however, the injury rate was still 

above its goal because many of the injuries that were still 

occurring were a result of exposures to MSD risk factors. 

Vulcan decided it needed to take another approach. In 

August 2005, NIOSH researchers (two certified professional ergonomists) and Vulcan safety personnel (corporate and division level safety professionals) met to discuss 

how ergonomic principles could be applied within Vulcan 

Materials Company to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. 

The plan for implementing an ergonomics process had to 

address issues commonly associated with a large, multisite company with most sites having less than 50 employees and limited onsite safety and health expertise. The 

plan that was developed took a two-phase approach.The 
first phase demonstrates how ergonomics can be applied 

at their sites, and the second phase lays the foundation 

for implementing a process throughout the company. To 

date, the first phase involved implementing ergonomics 

processes at two pilot sites within the Mideast Division; 

the second phase began with introducing ergonomic concepts and Vulcan’s ergonomics 

initiative to other Vulcan sites. 

At the pilot sites (North and Royal Stone 

quarries), ergonomics was integrated with the 

existing safety and health programs, primarily with the Vulcan injury-reduction initiative 

called “Taking Work out of Work.” Using the 

card shown in Fig. 1, employees are encouraged to report risk-factor exposures to the 

ergonomics review team, whose members 

include the plant manager, the pit and plant 

supervisors and the SHE team leader. 

Figure 1	 

Risk-factor report card used by employees to identify risk-factor exposures 

and body discomfort. 

The 

ergonomics review team, along with input 

from the S&H representative, addresses the 

concerns using the process shown in Fig. 2. 

Figure 2 

Vulcan ergonomics process flow diagram. 

When the concerns are investigated, a Manual Task Risk Assessment Form is used to 

evaluate risk factors to determine which risk 

factors should be controlled and establish a 

prioritization score for determining which 

exposures should be addressed first. 

The Vulcan process includes documenting the concern and the action taken to address the concern in a pilot Access database. 

As Vulcan expands its application of ergonomics throughout the Mideast Division and 

the other six divisions, information from the 

submitted cards and controls implemented 

will be captured in a division or corporatewide database and will be used as a resource 

for finding solutions to specific exposures, as 

well as to identify trends. 

In April 2006, Vulcan employees at the 

two pilot sites received ergonomics and 

a train-the-trainer session offered by NIOSH in February 2006. 

Because the Vulcan personnel responsible for implementing the ergonomics process had limited backgrounds 

in ergonomics, NIOSH provided the S&H representarisk-factor awareness training. The objectives of the employee training were 

twofold: to provide employees with skills 

for identifying risk factors in their work 

areas similar to their skills for identifying safety or health hazards and to encourage employee participation in the 

ergonomics process. Prior studies have 

shown that an important element of 

successful ergonomics processes is employee involvement (Cohen et al., 1997). 

The employee training was given in two 

90-minute sessions held one week apart. 

The training was modified to include a 

homework assignment that encouraged 

employees to complete report cards identifying risk-factor exposures for two tasks 

they do as part of their jobs.The first session of this training at both pilot sites 

was given by the division safety manager, 

and the second session was given by the 

S&H representatives assigned to each of 

the pilot sites. To become familiar with 

the training, these instructors attended 
 

tives assigned to the pilot sites and the 

ergonomics review teams at both pilot 

sites additional training on implementing the ergonomics process, primarily 

how to process report cards, evaluate risk factor exposures and determine appropriate controls. Although 

the training emphasized engineering 

controls because of the reduction or 

elimination of the risk-factor exposures, personal protective equipment 

and administrative controls, such as 

job enlargement/rotation, work-rest 

schedules and work pace, were also 

discussed.This training, given in April 

2006, was a combination of classroom 

training and a field exercise. In the 

classroom, participants discussed how 

to implement the process, evaluated 

various implementation tools and 

viewed several short videos to gain 

practice at identifying risk-factor exposures. The field exercise provided 

practice with observing actual tasks 

being performed by employees and 

with completing the Manual Task Risk 

Assessment Form. The field exercise 

was followed by a brainstorming session to determine 

solutions for the observed risk-factor exposures. The 

training methods and risk-assessment tools were based 

on previous experiences in implementing participative 

ergonomics in surface and underground coal mines (Unger et al., 2002; Steiner et al., 2004; Torma-Krajewski et 

al., 2006; Burgess-Limerick et al., 2007;Torma-Krajewski 

et al., 2007). 

In July 2006, NIOSH offered the S&H representatives 

and ergonomics review team members another training 

session focusing on job improvements, primarily selecting 

hand tools and modifying manual tasks. Additional information was provided on the stress experienced by the 

back muscles and spinal discs during various lifting tasks. 

Participants were given practice at determining options 

for reducing exposures to risk factors by analyzing several tasks performed at their sites and then brainstorming 

job improvements. 

Vulcan initiated the second phase of its application 

of ergonomic principles in November 2005 by offering 

all of the safety and health representatives training that 

helped them to identify risk-factor exposures and to determine simple task improvements for reducing or eliminating risk-factor exposures. During this training, the 

representatives were asked to submit examples of job 

improvements implemented at sites within their divisions. 

Approximately 10 improvements were submitted and 

posted on the Vulcan intranet. In February 2006, ergonomic concepts were introduced to the Mideast Division 

plant managers by a joint presentation given by Vulcan 

and NIOSH. This presentation focused on Vulcan injury 

statistics with risk-factor exposures and how ergonomics helped other companies with reducing their injury 

rates. The Mideast Division Engineering Department 

also received training in July 2006. This training emphasized the need to apply ergonomic principles during the 

planning and design stages to prevent exposures to risk 

factors. Specific components of this training included 

anthropometry and workstation and conveyor design 

principles. Anthropometry is the study of the shape, size 

and strength capabilities of the human body. It is used to 

design workstations, tools and equipment to ensure an 

adequate interface and a compatibility with the user. 

For a homework assignment, participants were asked 

to design a sales-yard clerk workstation that could be 

used as a prototype for other Vulcan sites. The training/ 

presentation offered during this phase was conducted primarily by NIOSH researchers, with support from Vulcan 

safety and health staff that provided information specific 

to Vulcan injury rates. 

Because Vulcan is applying ergonomic principles 

at several levels within its company, there are several 

champions. The need for a champion is discussed in Torma-Krajewski et al. (2006). At the pilot sites, the plant 

manager and the S&H representatives are the champions. 

At the division level the division safety manager is the 

champion and at the corporate level the champion is the 

corporate safety manager. 

Interventions or job improvements 

To demonstrate the ability to apply ergonomic principles at mines, interventions or job improvements implemented as a result of a report card being submitted were 

identified and documented. Employees submitted 42 report cards, 14 from the North Quarry and 28 from the 

Royal Stone Quarry. From the initial submittal of cards, 

risk factors and body discomfort were evaluated (Figs. 

3 and 4). 

Figure 3 

Percentage of report cards identifying exposures to specific risk factors (more

than one response permitted).

At the North Quarry, poor posture, repetitive 

motion and bouncing/jarring were the most frequently 

reported risk factors. Knees were the most frequently 

reported body part experiencing discomfort. In contrast, 

at Royal Stone, repetitive work and bouncing/jarring 

were the most frequently reported risk factors, and the 

lower back was the most frequently reported body part 
experiencing discomfort. Royal Stone 

employees reported more exposures 

to risk factors than North Quarry 

employees. Many of the reported exposures were associated with seating 

issues in heavy equipment.The greater 

reporting rate by Royal Stone employees could be a result of several factors, such as cultural differences, older 

equipment or simply a better response 

to the homework assignment.At Royal 

Stone, the plant manager attended the 

training and strongly encouraged completion of the homework assignment. 

Immediately following the employee training, both pilot sites implemented job improvements in response to the 

risk-factor report cards submitted by 

the employees. Within three months, 

several interventions were completed 

at both sites. In many cases the labor 

was done internally, and the cost of the 

intervention was less than $500. Examples of these interventions include: 

•	 Problem: Loader operator repeatedly twisted 

his neck and back when looking to the rear of 

the loader. Solution: Side mirrors were installed 

on the loader. 

•	 Problem: Crusher operator twisted his neck and 

back when using a computer to set the speed on 

the feeder as he monitored the feeder and he 

had to stand to see the feeder. Solution: 

A seated workstation was installed on an 

elevated platform, and the feeder controls were 

moved to reduce the amount of twisting. (Fig.5) 

•	 Problem: When metal was removed from large 

conveyor magnets, it was placed in large cans 

until the cans were full. To empty the cans they 

were manually handled. Solution: The metal is 

now placed in a basket designed to be moved 

using a forklift, which eliminates all manual 

handling of the cans. (Fig. 6) 

Figure 5 

Seated workstation installed for crusher operator. 

Figure 4 

Percentage of submitted reports cards identifying specific body parts with 

discomfort (more than one response permitted). 

•	 Problem: Employees driving stock trucks under 

supply bins had to use a pull cord to open and 

close the bins. The employees also had to twist 

and turn their neck and back to see as the truck 

was loaded. To perform this task, the truck 

window had to be open, which increased 

exposures to dust and noise. Solution: Mirrors 

were installed for viewing the back of the truck 

as it is filling, and a remote-control system is 

now used to open the bin. 

•	 Problem: Employees had to pull large wash 

hoses up and down several levels of the screen 

towers. Solution: Valves and hoses were 

installed on all levels of the towers. 

•	 Problem: When replacing a power converter 

on a haul truck, the power converter had to be 

lifted up onto the frame of the truck. The 

employee then had to climb onto the frame of 

the truck and carry the power converter down 

the frame of the truck. Solution: A working 

platform was built at the height of the power 

converter on the truck. Once the platform is 

placed with the hoist, the employee then uses 

the overhead hoist to lift the power converter 

in place, eliminating all manual handling. 

•	 Problem: When operating the rubber-tire dozer 

in the stockpile area, which is a high-traffic 

area, the driver had to turn his head and neck 

repeatedly to check blind spots before 

reversing direction. Solution: A blind-spot 

camera was installed. 

•	 Problem: A lab technician had to carry a 19-L 

(5-gal) bucket of stone weighing approximately 

36 kg (80 lbs) down the conveyor and load it on 

a pickup truck to take it to the lab. Solution: An 

automatic belt sampler was installed that 

discharges the sample directly into a bucket 

located on a stand that is the same height as the 
 

pickup truck’s bed. 

•	 Problem: The shop mechanic stood on concrete 

floors all day. Solution: Anti-fatigue floor mats 

are now used at various locations in the shop, 

and several different types of shoe insoles are 

being tested. 

Figure 6 

Basket for storing metal scrap that can be moved with a 

forklift. 

Summary and conclusions 

Applying ergonomic principles within the mining industry has been shown to be a viable approach for addressing exposures to risk factors by implementing task 

improvements. Vulcan was able to integrate ergonomics 

with its existing safety and health program and to establish a systematic process to resolve risk-factor exposures 

and to implement task improvements. As the implementation process continues at the pilot sites, it is anticipated 

that the process will move from addressing risk-factor 

exposures and musculoskeletal disorders to incorporating ergonomic principles in the design of future workstations and equipment specifications. Risk-factor exposures 

will be proactively addressed in the design and planning 

stage. 

As additional sites within Vulcan Materials Company 

apply ergonomic principles, it is expected that the process 

will be modified to meet specific needs of each site, such 

as cultural and organizational issues; however, all sites 

will be following the basic framework established by the 

pilot sites. Each site will: 

•	 assign a champion to promote and serve as an 

advocate and leader in applying ergonomic 

principles; 

•	 provide training to employees and 

organizational entities responsible for 

implementing the ergonomics process (the 

training should be customized to meet the roles 

each group plays in the implementation 

process); 

•	 develop a systematic process to identify and 

control risk factors that considers the method, 

tools, equipment, workstation and environment; 

•	 track and document progress to demonstrate 

the benefits of the process, share interventions 

and communicate lessons-learned across all 

Vulcan sites; and 

•	 integrate ergonomics with other processes that 

affect worker safety and health, such as 

purchasing decisions, work schedules, 

modifications to existing facilities/equipment 

and procedures (by doing this, costly 

reengineering efforts to correct problems with 

risk-factor exposures can be avoided). 

Acknowledgments 

The authors acknowledge the contributions by the 

following individuals involved in the implementation 

of the Vulcan ergonomics process: Kelly Baron, Susan 

Moore and Jeff Welsh of NIOSH; and Bryan Moore,Truman Chidsey, Jeff Black, Dick Seago, Mike Junkerman, 

Andy Perkins, Tim Walston and Philip Phibbs of Vulcan 

Materials Company. 

Disclaimer 

The findings and conclusions in this paper are those 

of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views 

of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health. 

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