Caterpillar says it is collaborating with Guardhat to offer its proven safety solutions to surface mining operations through Cat® dealers.

The two companies are also developing a new system, Cat Connected Worker, which will use wearables to provide added protection for people. The new system will also deliver event-based monitoring and mapping to aid analysis and enhancement of the mining environment, Cat says.

Bill Dears, Cat MineStar™ Solutions Marketing Manager, said: “Leveraging Guardhat technology, proven in challenging industrial settings, will speed development of a comprehensive, digital solution sought by mining customers. As a component of Cat MineStar Detect safety capabilities, Connected Worker will provide insight that will enable managers to create safer operations ‒ and to respond quickly if an incident does occur.”

Indranil Roychoudhury, Chief Operating Officer, Guardhat, said: “We are pleased to work with Caterpillar to deliver ‘smart’ technology to enhance miners’ safety. Our safety monitoring and data analysis system is a multi-product, feature-packed intelligent safety and productivity system that integrates cutting-edge wearable technology and advanced proprietary software. It is equipped to detect, alert and help prevent industrial work-related incidents, and it is designed to collect and analyse data to support and improve worker safety and productivity programs.”

When developed, Cat Connected Worker will provide precise location of all workers to the mine monitoring system, and it will allow communication between individuals, teams and sites, according to the company. Data will enable monitoring personnel to understand the environment workers are facing in near real time, which will facilitate decision making.

As part of Cat MineStar, Connected Worker will be supported by Cat dealers worldwide. The same Cat dealers are equipped to supply current Guardhat technology to surface mining operations of all types.

Connected devices in the Guardhat line include hard hats, personnel tags, asset tags and smartphones using Guardhat applications. The system is Wi-Fi and cellular compatible for communications with the Safety Control Center.