Cost effective mine safety solutions for avoiding collisions

As technology evolves, the adoption and integration of advanced collision avoidance solutions will continue to be a key focus for the mining industry, ensuring a safer and more productive future for miners and mining companies alike.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor (MSHA) published its final rule regarding the Safety Program for Surface Mobile Equipment, which took effect on January 19, 2024, giving mine operators until July 17 to achieve compliance.

MSHA’s safety rule states that “mine operators must develop, implement, and update, periodically or when necessary, a written safety program for surface mobile equipment (excluding belt conveyors) at surface mines and surface areas of underground mines. The written safety program must be developed and updated with input from miners and their representatives. The written safety program must include actions mine operators will take to identify hazards and risks to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities related to surface mobile equipment. The final rule offers mine operators flexibility to devise a safety program that is appropriate for their specific mining conditions and operations.”

Compliance doesn’t have to break the bank

Achieving compliance may seem like a daunting task, but Carroll Technologies can work with mines to provide the most effective collision avoidance system for any site, application, or budget.

In some instances, increasing visibility of vehicles is sufficient enough to avoid accidents. Buggy Whip® LED safety whips are a cost efficient solution to easily identify vehicles and equipment in industrial environments. For more complex situations, an effective tracking system is essential for collision avoidance. This can take the form of tags worn by workers and attached to machinery and vehicles, which feed information into a control centre. Large, above-ground operations may utilize GPS tracking, which can reduce operational costs as satellite tracking removes the need for individual people and objects to be tagged. Holistic services that combine tracking and communication are also increasingly popular.

Collision prevention systems provided by Carroll Technologies include PBE’s collision avoidance system, which uses EM (electromagnetics), RFID, GPS and bi-directional radar at the same time for accuracy that can be configured to recognise different groups (such as vehicle types or personnel). Additionally, the dash-mounted PAS-Z Proximity Alert System alerts drivers to the presence of personnel, vehicles and obstacles.

The PAS-ZR is a ruggedized version of PBE’s standard collision avoidance system, specifically designed for both above and below ground vehicles in the construction and mining industry.