Abstract
A smart helmet-based wearable personnel proximity warning system was developed to prevent collisions between equipment and pedestrians in mines. The smart helmet worn by pedestrians receives signals transmitted by Bluetooth beacons attached to heavy equipment, light vehicles, or dangerous zones, and provides visual LED warnings to the pedestrians and operators simultaneously. A performance test of the proposed system was conducted in an underground limestone mine. It was confirmed that as the transmission power of the Bluetooth beacon increased, the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signal detection distance of the system also increased. The average BLE signal detection distance was at least 10 m, regardless of the facing angle between the smart helmet and Bluetooth beacon. The subjective workload for the smartphone-, smart glasses-, and smart helmet-based proximity warning system (PWS) was evaluated using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration task load index. All six workload parameters were the lowest when using the smart helmet-based PWS. The smart helmet-based PWS can provide visual proximity warning alerts to both the equipment operator and the pedestrian, and it can be expanded to provide worker health monitoring and hazard awareness functions by adding sensors to the Arduino board.
Highlights
In underground mines, worker safety accidents frequently occur, owing to collisions between equipment and pedestrians or other equipment
According to a disaster report published by the government of Western Australia, there have been a total of 34 equipment collisions involving haulage trucks and charge-up trucks in underground mines in Western Australia since 2015 [2]
The design of Proximity Warning System (PWS) based on Bluetooth beacons and smart helmets is summarized in The design of PWS based on Bluetooth beacons and smart helmets is summarized
Summary
Worker safety accidents frequently occur, owing to collisions between equipment and pedestrians or other equipment. The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that there were 45 fatalities due to equipment collisions in underground mines in the United States between 2011 and 2019 [1]. According to a disaster report published by the government of Western Australia, there have been a total of 34 equipment collisions involving haulage trucks and charge-up trucks in underground mines in Western Australia since 2015 [2]. Proximity warning systems (PWSs) have been developed to prevent equipment collision accidents in underground mines. PWSs provide visual and/or audible proximity alerts to equipment operators of pedestrians or other equipment approaching within a certain distance [3].
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