Ongoing Projects

Dr. Pratt Rogers, Dr. Frank Drews

Mining Safety

Fatigue is a significant problem that negatively impacts the health and safety of mine haulage operators. Fatigue, which has many contributing factors, ranges from reduced alertness during tasks to drowsiness to falling asleep. Fatigue can cause decreased worker performance and inhibited mental attentiveness, which have significant ramifications for safety in the mining industry, where accidents associated with fatigue have occurred. Our research focuses on the impact, management, and prediction of fatigue among mine haulage operators. We have 1) examined operators’ personal experiences with and management of fatigue, 2) explored an IoT-enabled wearable system to track fatigue, 3) investigated environmental and work-related factors influencing individual driver fatigue, and 4) developed a model to identify leading fatigue indicators in operational datasets

Publications: 

• Environmental and Work Factors That Drive Fatigue of Individual Haul Truck Drivers
• IoT-Enabled Wearable Fatigue-Tracking System for Mine Operators
• Modeling Mine Workforce Fatigue: Finding Leading Indicators of Fatigue in Operational Data Sets
• The Experience and Management of Fatigue: A Study of Mine Haulage Operators