Smart wearable technologies and connected personal protective equipment (PPE) to improve safety, visibility and decision-making for mineworkers in high-risk environments are being developed by South African technology company Soteria Advanced Technologies and partners.

The company’s Wearin’ smart connected garments are designed to monitor workers in real time, using built-in sensors to track location, motion, fall incidents, heart rate, temperature and other metrics, outlines Soteria director Tom Roos.

This system generates live alerts when a mineworker is suffering from fatigue or is exposed to dangerous conditions such as harmful gases, poor air quality or extreme noise. The alerts can include video, audio or data streams, consequently enabling safety teams to respond quickly to situations underground. Alerts can be sent to all systems at once, including mobile phones and third-party dashboards.

Roos says every incident is recorded and can be reviewed later for investigation or reporting.

“Whether it’s tracking mineworkers’ location, detecting gas exposure or monitoring movement and fatigue, our system gives a clear picture of their conditions and surroundings.”

The wearables link up to an open application progamming interfaces dashboard that can stand alone or be integrated into other mine-wide monitoring platforms.



Glow-in-the-Dark PPE

Soteria is also advancing visibility through its SUNFIBRE fibre-optic active lighting garments.

These enhanced PPE solutions provide 360o lighting and better visibility in low-light, poorly lit or underground environments.

“Unlike traditional reflective tape, which relies on external light to shine, the built-in light strips on Soteria’s garments emit their own light and can be seen even in complete darkness,” adds Roos.



Linking these lights to the smart garments enables the system to automatically adjust lighting patterns based on detected incidents; for example, if a mineworker falls or shows signs of heat stress, the lights can start flashing to alert nearby teams and attract attention.