Safety and health play an increasingly important role in Chile’s mining industry. This month, President Gabriel Boric ratified Convention No. 176 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on safety and health in mines, and in July, stakeholders in the sector, the Sernajomen Ministry of Mining and Geological Service, signed a commitment to promote a mine culture. concepts.
As a means to address these challenges, wearable technologies (wearable), such as industrial exoskeletons and position sensors, are increasingly required by the mining industry and other sectors for their contribution to health and safety best practices.
Worn as accessories or clothing, these devices can prevent accidents and contribute to company productivity. BNamericas inquired about the use of these technologies in a conversation with Vicente Sepúlveda, co-founder and commercial director of Andes Levers, start A Chilean company that specializes in providing answers to a large number of companies, including mining companies.
BNamericas: What technology does Andes Levers provide?
Sepulveda: We specialize in integrating technology-based tools, which complement the use of data with on-site advice, to improve the quality of life of workers exposed to musculoskeletal diseases through innovation and new technologies. We study the key factors affecting workers’ health, and understand the design of their workplace to recommend solutions that allow them to return home more comfortably and safely. In this way, the efficiency of logistics production operations is increased.
BNamericas: What kind of tools do they use?
Sepulveda: We use analytics and artificial intelligence that we complement with different devices, which allows us to get valuable information about the functions we are going to improve and compare them with the initial cases.
BNamericas: What are the benefits of using mobile technologies in the workplace?
Sepulveda: These technologies can offer a series of benefits to workers such as reducing occupational injuries and diseases, identifying potential hazards and preventing work-related accidents or transforming work environments. With this, workers can work more comfortably and healthily, which contributes to creating pleasant work environments.
It is important to note that our populations are getting older and so the exoskeletons are more demanding. On the other hand, although the main goal is the health and safety of people, if workers become healthier with its use, it can lead to improvements in the productivity of the company. We’ve seen this in various industrial sectors.
BNamericas: How are wearable technologies changing safety in the workplace?
Sepulveda: Mobile technologies have played, and will continue to play, a very important role for workers in Chile and Latin America. When you engage the worker on issues that are directly related to their well-being, the levels of acceptance we’ve seen are very high and allow us to achieve better results. That is why it is so important to know the layout of the workplace, the factors to which workers are exposed and the pain of the user, so that together we can solve their problems and contribute to their well-being.
BNamericas: What are the challenges of using the technologies? wearable at work?
Sepulveda: The main challenges are the lack of knowledge about the cumulative consequences that musculoskeletal diseases can have on the health of workers exposed to risk factors. This generates negative attitudes that, in the long run, mainly harm workers and their families. Moreover, if there is not enough safety culture around people and not all the effects of diseases are measured, the technologies can seem expensive. Over time, it is usually estimated that the investment is worth it.
BNamericas: How should companies approach the implementation of wearable technologies?
Sepulveda: Supporting innovators, establishing policies and procedures related to the use of technologies in the workplace and addressing issues such as privacy, security and costs, in addition to providing training to workers on the safe and responsible use of mobile technologies, and accompanying processes and resource allocation so that technologies can be appropriately coupled to company needs.
BNamericas: What is the outlook for the Portable Occupational Safety Technologies market?
Sepulveda: The future of wearable technologies, complemented by artificial intelligence, will change work forever. It is important that we start to adapt. There are already many companies using industrial exoskeletons and ergometers with advanced analytics software that allows them to track through reliable data sources.
And we’re also seeing advances in this kind of technology to control the effect of silica. As technologies evolve, they will become more flexible to meet the specific requirements of each company. By providing workers with real-time information and assistance, this technology will prevent a range of workplace accidents, including fatalities, dramatically improve work environments, keep workers out of the line of fire, and improve productivity and corporate competitiveness.
American names: How has mobile technologies been received in the Chilean mining industry?
Sepulveda: Ha It was very good. We work with the main mining companies in our country, helping to reduce risks to people in areas such as sampling, logistics, mine operation, etc. The safety awareness of people in mining is a factor driving the adoption of new people care tools. We also work with some of the major mining providers.
BNamericas: How is National Mining and the rest of Latin America adapting to Chile’s new health and safety standards?
Sepulveda: Chilean mining is a pioneer in this field, but we also work with companies in manufacturing, logistics, food and other sectors. We hope that, in a short time, these solutions for worker care will be widely used in many Chilean and Latin American companies.
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