Advances in digital technology are set to transform safety in the mining industry and equip remote operating centres with better tools and leading-edge analytics to improve the safety of workers in high risk locations.
Smart mining operators are replacing paper-based systems with new cloud-based technology to improve safety and predictability by overseeing people and equipment on site from back office locations, accessing real-time data for incident prevention and even using facial recognition and geo fencing alarms to safeguard isolated workers.
New safety challenges require a new approach
Although health and safety in mining has improved significantly in recent years, serious injuries are still regularly occurring, and COVID-19 has brought a new range of new health and safety challenges to the forefront.
Distributed and remote workforces remain critical to mining operations and a safe working environment is vital. Improved safety requires higher levels of communication, greater visibility of safe work practices and earlier identification and mitigation of potential hazards to maintain work operations and enforce safety controls during tough times.
High-tech solutions that improve safety while maintaining privacy
Leading asset and work management systems, such as Lumada Field Service Management, are using the latest technology to enable asset-intensive industries to be more insightful, adaptive, predictive and prescriptive, allowing to operate safely, efficiently and effectively.
The risk of incidents can be dramatically reduced by enabling a regional control centre to monitor the location of vehicles and the safety of people, in near real time.
The use of video insights, Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and artificial intelligence technologies is enabling a new world of more granular data and offers continuous operational insights without breaching personal privacy expectations.
Employees and contractors on site can also receive, review and execute work enabled by digitalised workflows, which improves data capture and can help identify and prevent future asset failures that may pose safety risks and result in downtime.
Special features such as the ability to create safety geofences that raise alerts when people enter defined locations of risk and assessments verifying that the environment is safe prior to workers commencing, greatly improve situational awareness and reduce onsite incidents.
Should an incident occur, analysis using worker replay can show the prior movement of onsite field workers and identify areas where compliance or safety controls need to be reviewed and improved.
The Lumada Field Service Management solution also integrates and builds on existing technologies, without sacrificing software investments that have already been made. Manual processes, such as the transfer of data to upstream systems, is eliminated, improving accuracy and freeing resources to focus on higher value work.
A holistic approach to asset management is key
Smart mines are embracing high-tech solutions to holistically and cost effectively manage the performance of workforces and assets. Advanced enterprise software is becoming essential for not only achieving best practice safety management by allowing managers to react in real time, but also for minimising asset downtime, maximising efficiency and reducing operating costs.
Lumada Enterprise Asset Management is a solution for mining organisations looking to gain efficiencies in managing their asset portfolio and establishing best practice processes.
For mining companies with aging assets, Lumada Asset Performance Management enables the prevention of critical failures while minimising asset lifecycle costs.
Predictive, condition-based maintenance can ensure employees are working in a safer environment and in the right place at the right time, to cost-effectively address asset performance issues.
Predictive maintenance can extend the remaining useful life of assets and optimise utilisation to increase return on investment.
Hitachi ABB Power Grids is a global technology leader with a combined heritage of almost 250 years, employing around 36,000 people in 90 countries. Headquartered in Switzerland, the business serves utility, industry and infrastructure customers across the value chain, and emerging areas like sustainable mobility, smart cities, energy storage and data centers.
With a proven track record, global footprint and unparalleled installed base, Hitachi ABB Power Grids balances social, environmental and economic values. It is committed to powering good for a sustainable energy future, with pioneering and digital technologies, as the partner of choice for enabling a stronger, smarter and greener grid.