| Written by Geir Nerbø
Miner Monitoring: A Necessary Step for Mining Safety
Miner monitoring entails a variety of different techniques and processes, such as using tools to measure air quality in underground mines, tracking the performance of mining equipment, and monitoring the health and safety of workers. This can involve checking machines for any mechanical problems, verifying that miners are using proper safety equipment, and monitoring the air quality to ensure workers are safe in the area. In some cases, miner monitoring may even involve monitoring the environment outside of the mine to make sure that potential hazards, such as gas leaks or hazardous material spills, are identified and addressed in a timely manner.
Miner monitoring is an essential part of creating a safe and secure working environment for miners, and it should be taken seriously. Miners need to be aware of the potential hazards that can exist in a work environment, and companies need to have processes in place to ensure that risks are identified and addressed quickly. Miner monitoring is an important measure to help prevent severe injuries and maintain a safe and secure environment for all workers.
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Benefits of Miner Monitoring
Miner monitoring is an essential step for mining safety and can benefit both miners and safety officials. This technique of monitoring and tracking the different aspects of a mine can provide an invaluable source of information for those in the industry.
First, miner monitoring can help prevent accidents and fatalities by alerting the proper authorities in the event of any dangerous situations. By monitoring air quality, seismic images, and other environmental data, mine personnel can be immediately notified of any changes that could cause concern. This also helps to identify any emerging issues before they become problematic, thus allowing for a proactive approach to safety.
Another benefit of miner monitoring involves efficiently operating the blasting schedule of a mine. This helps ensure the miners' safety by allowing for timely departure from a danger zone.
Finally, miner monitoring provides the necessary data to help organize any rescue operations in an emergency. By monitoring the different zones of the mine, mining companies can identify areas where search & rescue operations may be needed. Such a system gives an immediate and real-time overview of the situation and if the personnel is evacuated or not accounted for.
Overall, miner monitoring is an essential step for mining safety and provides a range of benefits for those in the industry.
Miner monitoring at LKAB
LKAB is an international high-tech mining and minerals group that mines and upgrades iron ore in northern Sweden for the global steel market. Their mine in Kiruna, Sweden is the largest and most modern underground iron mine in Europe. Founded in 1890, the company has been state-owned since the 1950s.
With a vast orebody that is four kilometres long, 80 to 120 meters wide and at least 2,000 meters deep (as wide as a soccer field, but almost 33 times longer), the Kiruna mine is dependent on the territorial regulations, company rules and an elaborated emergency planning. By employing up to 500 mine workers, LKBA needs to consider all possible situations, and a key factor is ensuring employees’ safety and highly efficient handling in case of an emergency. INDENTED SOLUTIONS personnel tracking system Crew Companion is part of a mining safety framework that delivers real-time visibility and protects miners by equipping all labourers with a transponder. These highly robust and reliable wireless tracking solutions provide hardware and software that are facilitated throughout isolated underground environments. Various areas are divided into monitored zones. The control centre constantly receives the location of each employee in the different zones.
Read more about blasting safety...
MONETARY LOSS IS ALWAYS A HIGH PRICE TO PAY
In 2017, LKBA produced 27,2 MT of iron ore products and had sales of more than 23 billion SEK. Every day, iron ore equivalent to the steel used for around six Eiffel towers is mined. The amount of production annually increases by five per cent. Mining ore at great depths is a logistical and safety challenge that can only be overcome by a well-functioning infrastructure and a real-time, reliable personnel tracking system. The daily mining business starts with targeted detonation and drilling of mining zones around 1 a.m., creating cavities that then provide the miners with new mining areas. Ensuring an uninterrupted and efficient workflow, as well as avoiding downtime, LKBA requires instant access to information, automated alerts, and an accurate and reliable localization system of all employees, which ensures safety in a timely manner. Effective emergency planning is often reliant upon the transparency and localization of labour, ensuring employees are not located in hazardous and detonation mining areas. Interruptions can cause downtime, as well as monetary and production loss.
Further reading: Mining safety use case
TRACK, LOCATE AND OPTIMIZE MINING
The miner tracking system Crew Companion provides a wireless solution, guaranteeing visibility to ensure complete eviction of the detonation area by implementing an automated headcount per mustering zone in every covering area. Moreover, the system provides accurate data and ‘man down’ alerts. This enables operators to instantly and automatically identify, locate, and reach out to miners over the preferred communication system on the vast premises and ensures prompt initiation of search and rescue operations in emergency situations. Real-time monitoring of mining zones and labour can help operators risk management in mining. IDENTEC SOLUTIONS reduces the risk of human error through a robust, reliable, and proven digitalized counting process, which can be remotely administered from the control rooms.
The Future of Miner Monitoring
Technology will soon make great strides into the future of mine monitoring with the entrance of IoT, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. All these should further drive up the bar on safety and efficiency at the operational sites of underground mining. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can predict potential hazards through the computation and analysis of large volumes of data collected from different sensors in real-time, and enable proactive measures to prevent such accidents. This will provide a seamless system that integrates other monitoring systems for complete and coherent tracking of equipment and personnel. On the other hand, the use of wearable technology with health monitoring sensors can act in real time to give insights into the physical condition of the miners that call for immediate medical responses. These two technological advancements will promise safer mining and more efficiency, thus ensuring that the industry will meet increasing demand while prioritizing the welfare of the mine's workers. This incorporation of cutting-edge technologies allows mining companies to look at the future, where the aspect of safety shall be built into every nitty-gritty detail of the operations to cut down on risks and raise productivity.
CREW COMPANION 1.3
The newest version of Crew Companion, version 1.3, comes equipped with new features for safety and efficiency. A major integration feature is the ability to send automatic SMS notifications to select users. Fully customizable, it can be altered to meet the needs of a particular customer. Such ensures that critical messages are disseminated and received fast enough to better prepare time in case of an emergency.
Crew Companion 1.3 improves operational efficiency by providing real-time data that gives crews adequate time for preparation. It significantly decreases time spent looking for unaccounted personnel, cutting down time wastage in blasting operations. This will ensure that the work processes continue continuously and are achieved without any form of interruptions, hence increasing productivity. The system will also offer safety from personnel heeding advisories on directions of movement by the people involved in a situation to ensure quick and well-coordinated evacuations.
FAQs
What is miner monitoring?
Miner monitoring is the process of collecting and analyzing data from miners to ensure safety and compliance with safety regulations. It also helps to identify potential hazards and take proactive steps to prevent or mitigate them.
Why is miner monitoring important?
Miner monitoring is important for ensuring miners' safety and complying with safety regulations. It helps to identify potential hazards before they become a problem, thus saving time and money, for example, when conducting scheduled blasting.
What kind of data is collected through miner monitoring?
Data collected through miner monitoring can include dust levels, air quality, noise levels, temperature, and airflow. It can also include activity levels and the location of miners underground. With Crew Companion, the location of miners is recorded only in an emergency.
How can miner monitoring help with emergency procedures?
Miner monitoring can help with emergency procedures by providing real-time data that can be used to quickly locate miners and develop plans to safely evacuate them in case of an emergency.
Takeaway
Mining is a dangerous yet necessary part of our modern lives, and miner monitoring is a crucial tool used to ensure the safety of miners in the field. Miner monitoring provides real-time data, creates better working conditions, and helps to decrease the risk of mining injuries. By investing in robust systems for miner monitoring, mining operations can better ensure the safety and well-being of its mining personnel. While mining will continue to be a hazardous profession, miner monitoring provides us with another layer of safety to ensure that miners return home safe and sound every day.
IDENTEC SOLUTIONS keeps improving methods and solutions for the Mining and Tunneling industry to ensure safe and reliable working conditions in hazardous environments. Read more about mining safety!
Sources:
(1) https://www.azomining.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1797
Note: This article was updated on the 9th of July 2024
Author
Geir Nerbø, VP Sales Safe Mining
Geir has been an advocate for safety in the mining industry for a long time. Geir's background is from the Norwegian army, working as a technician within communication systems, special educated as a system engineer for the Norwegian Field Artillery, with responsibilities for the system calculating the ballistics data. He added a bachelor in Computer science (University of Agder) and started a career in sales, where the last 14 years he spent at IDENTEC SOLUTIONS.
