The paper reviews the possibility to apply probit-function to assess professional risks of underground mining under conditions of heating microclimate. Operations under conditions of heating microclimate, whose parameters exceed threshold criteria, can lead to dehydration, fainting and heat stroke for mine workers. Basing on the results of medico-biological research on the effects of microclimate on human body, the authors have assessed probabilistic nature of excessive heat accumulation depending on heat stress index. Using Shapiro-Wilk statistics, an assessment has been carried out in order to test correspondence of experimental data on heat accumulation in the human body to the normal law of distribution for different values of heat stress index, measured in the process of underground mining operations under conditions of heating microclimate. The paper justifies construction of a probit-model to assess professional risks caused by overheating for various types of underground mining operations, depending on their intensity. Modeling results have been verified by way of comparison with a currently used deterministic model of body overheating. Taking into account satisfactory convergence of results, the authors suggest using probit-model to assess professional risks of overheating, as this model allows to obtain a continuous dependency between professional risk and heat stress index, which in its own turn facilitates a more justified approach to the selection of measures to upgrade working conditions of personnel.
