PROXIMITY WARNING SYSTEMS/Warning saves lives

摘要

The ability to sense another vehicle in close proximity to one's vehicle is worth a lot of production time and human lives. Avoiding collisions is of great importance to any mine, as damaged machinery does not produce ore and injury or death to personnel is unacceptable. The danger factor is high in most mines and many have implemented warning systems that indicate to the operator whether there is an object anywhere near the vehicle. One of the more recent additions to the pool of proximity detection systems is from Booyco electronics, a South African-based company. According to Booyco, the system detects any object within a predetermined proximity to the vehicle fitted with the system. Once an object is detected, the operator is alerted to the object's presence via an LED (light emitting diode) system in the cab. The visual indication is backed up by means of an audio alarm tone that alerts the operator to dangerous situations. According to Booyco, this system is fully automatic and truly stand-alone, and does not use a receiver and transponder in the same way that other systems do.