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50 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com A recent study by a leading mobile mine- equipment supplier pins the blame for worksite accidents on two main causes: bad conditions and bad behavior. The actual wording used by Caterpillar in its white paper Enhancing Safety— What Safety Concerns Keep You Up at Night? is "uncertain or unsafe operating conditions" and "risky operating behavior," but the existence of either generally leads to a bad outcome. What is surprising, the paper pointed out, is that only 10% of accidents can be attributed to unsafe conditions—the majority are due to equipment operators or other mine-site personnel acting in an unsafe manner. The paper highlighted several levels of protection that can and should be system- ically implemented to instruct and ulti- mately shield workers from making bad decisions that lead to mishaps. These measures are generally well known and include instilling a site "safety culture" that prompts workers to be constantly aware of safety rules and safe behavior in general; establishing a site policy that extends accountability for safety all the way from the top levels of management on down; comprehensive training in correct procedures and behavior; and operational scheduling that avoids excessive fatigue among workers, and ensures that there's a good mix of experienced and inexperienced workers on the job at any given time. The final level of protection recommend- ed by Caterpillar is technology, a category that extends all the way from payload weigh- ing systems designed to prevent equipment failure from overloading, down to individual protective-gear items worn by workers in maintenance, construction and other sup- port-level mine-site activities. This article explores some of the choices available. Systems are Getting Smarter "Safety systems" for mining encompass a constantly expanding set of technologies that can be applied to specific mines, to a company's global inventory of mining assets and properties, or to a group or class of industry clients in general. Often safety systems can be closely linked to other pro- prietary or open-source technologies to pro- vide broader awareness of safety-related problems and performance. Last August, for example, Cat announced the launch of a 24/7 equipment operator monitoring service designed to give its cus- tomers visibility to both machine and opera- tor information related to actual or potential operator impairment. The system is based on around-the-clock information collection and analysis that can indicate the magni- tude of conditions such as fatigue and dis- traction and their impact on operations. Caterpillar's fatigue management solu- tion incorporates technologies such as the Driver Safety System (DSS), developed by Seeing Machines, a Cat alliance partner. DSS includes an in-cab camera and alert system to notify the operator the moment a fatigue or distraction event occurs. Events are tracked by analysts who also capture operator sleep quantity and quality informa- tion provided through the wrist-worn Cat Smartband, an actigraphy (rest/activity mon- itoring) solution powered by Fatigue Science, a Vancouver, Canada-based company spe- cializing in fatigue-related risk management and human performance optimization. According to Cat, when combined with machine data available through its EMSolutions equipment management analysis tool, MineStar and Cat Vital Information Management System (VIMS), operator performance data from the DSS and Smartband can present a clear picture of fatigue and distraction risk and its impact on productivity and profitability. Managing the Fleet for Safety Modular Mining Systems, a Tucson, Arizona-based developer of mine-fleet management solutions, pointed out that today, as regulatory agencies and mine organizations continue to strive for a zero- incident workplace, mines are placing more emphasis on both standalone and FMS-integrated safety solutions. This increased emphasis on safety first prompted Modular to release its suite of Safety Management Tools, including their first-generation proximity detection system, in 2006. This suite, known collectively as MineAlert, meets the industry's growing demand for increased safety by addressing mines' most common safety-related issues: Technology can play an important role in site safety, preventing workers from encountering risky conditions—such as the vehicle load monitoring setup shown here that prevents overloading, for example—or electronically enforc- ing awareness through pre-operational checklists and other routines that support best practices. Mine Safety: Working Within the System Safety-oriented technologies—from simple to sophisticated—can offer valuable assistance in accomplishing the crucial mission of keeping workers and equipment secure from harm By Russell A. Carter, Managing Editor S A F E T Y S Y S T E M S