A drowsy driver at the wheel of a three-storey-high, 400-tonne open-cast mining truck can ram other vehicles or turn the multimillion-dollar machines over, . Not for much longer: a drowsiness detector in the cab has proved so successful that US-based firm Caterpillar is fitting the $10,000 system in all its mining trucks.
The Fatigue Monitoring System from of Canberra, Australia, is designed to prevent accidents caused by tiredness, which account for 70 per cent of those where the driver was to blame. With an infrared camera that can see through sunglasses, and an image-processing computer, the FMS assesses the frequency, duration and speed of the driver鈥檚 blinking to weigh up inattention and the likelihood of imminent 鈥渕icrosleeps鈥�.
An 鈥渆yes on road鈥� message booms out if the FMS senses the driver is distracted, but a strong seat vibration and a shrill alarm that is 鈥渉umanly impossible to sleep through鈥� sounds if a microsleep is predicted, says Seeing Machines鈥� CEO Ken Kroeger.
Advertisement
Mine operators are warned of each event wirelessly, so they can redeploy consistently sleepy drivers. In early tests the FMS reduced incidents causes by fatigue by 72 per cent, Kroeger says.
But the technology is bound to raise questions about placing employees under what amounts to workplace surveillance. Although Kroeger says the mining firms who have tested the technology so far have only retrained drivers suffering microsleeps by ensuring they 鈥� and sometimes their families 鈥� realise the importance of a good night鈥檚 sleep before a driving shift, for instance.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not being used as a stick to fire people,鈥� he says, adding that mining firms are in any case introducing annual medical checks, to detect disorders like sleep apnoea 鈥� which can induce daytime microsleeps 鈥� and redeploying sufferers in other roles.
鈥淲e piloted this fatigue sensor system at our operations in Nevada,鈥� says a spokesman for Newmont Mining, based in Denver, Colorado. 鈥淚t has reduced fatigue-related events by 90 per cent.鈥�
