Mining Industry Using IoT for Health & Safety

As one of the most health and safety threatening industries in the world, the mining sector is always facing regulations and rulings that make lawful operations difficult and complicated.

To keep up with the latest laws, the best solution is to go beyond simply keeping up, and instead, be proactive in securing these factors for employees.

According to a report by Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications company, titled the Future of IoT in Enterprise – 2017, IoT will play an increasingly large role in assisting mining companies to meet their obligations to their staff and the government whilst being considerate of the environment and shareholders.

One key objective the mining industry has been striving to achieve is Zero Harm, which would prevent major and minor injuries, and fatalities in the workplace, as well as end all non-instant effects on workers in hazardous circumstances. To accomplish this, managers are employing a number of technologies and methods to fight accidents and continuous negative causation such as radiation. This is where IoT comes into play: by remotely monitoring the working conditions and workers’ health statistics at a reasonable cost, it becomes very realistic to track data instantly as well as predict any threats and/or opportunities for improvement in the future.

Some of the key findings of the report (which interviewed people from 100 global mining companies), was that 40% plan on deploying IoT solutions within the next 18 months, and 44% said they expect IoT to improve their staff’s health and safety.

Joe Carr, Inmarsat’s director of mining, thinks IoT is the best method to make changes in this area: “Automation and connected wearable technology represent two of the single best opportunities to address the dangers of the mining environment. IoT technology provides the digital nerve system for a network of automated devices and sensors that adjust to environmental conditions in real-time, meaning that equipment can react to potentially hazardous physical changes onsite rapidly without the need for human intervention, removing staff from potentially dangerous environments.”

Since Dashboard is passionate about both IoT and the mining industry, the marriage of the two seems like natural progression to us. We would like to invite all mining companies to look into IoT as a tool of improving health and safety if they haven’t yet, as we believe it will make a huge difference in the future.