What’s Putting Miners at Risk?
Our Latest Poll Reveals the Top Safety Threats
Mining environments are high-stakes settings, where visibility, awareness and accountability can mean the difference between a routine shift and a serious incident. We recently asked our team to rank, based on customer feedback, the most pressing surface mining site challenges as well as their top priorities when evaluating a collision avoidance system. While some results were expected, all provided insights.
Top Mining Safety Challenges
Not surprisingly, blind spots and back-up hazards ranked #1, reaffirming what many operators already know: if you can’t see it, you can’t avoid it. But several other site-specific concerns made the top 10:
- Equipment Operator Blind Spots / Back-Up Hazards
- Poor Visibility Areas
- High Traffic Zones
- Restricted View Corners
- Pinched or Narrow Travel Corridors
- Fatigued Workers, esp. end-of-shift and/or 3rd shift workers who need an extra set of eyes
- Complacent Operators
- New & Inexperienced Workers
- Busy Shift Changes
- Vendors or Guest Vehicles on Job Site
Top Priorities When Evaluating Collision Avoidance
Miners aren’t just looking for alerts—they’re looking for accountability, training support and a system that respects the realities of mining conditions. Here’s what came out on top when we asked what matters most:
- Zone Breach Records & Time-Stamped Photos for Accountability
- Work-Related Injury Costs (with average medical claims exceeding $40,000 and fatalities averaging $1.39 million)
- Using OmniPro as a Training Tool to Increase Worker Awareness
- Ability to Identify Safest—and Least-Safe—Operators
- System Accuracy
- Need for Space Conservation & Unobstructed Field of View (OmniPro hub/cameras are compact)
- Emphasis on Retaining Productivity
- Decision Intelligence Suite
