Boliden and WAVR will start their pilot project in autumn 2019. A pilot project focusing on the possibility of using smart, close-to-the-body technology to improve the safety and health of Boliden employees. Right now we are busy finalizing what we are going to deliver: our prototype which will go live in Kankberg’s mining operations.
Boliden has about 5800 employees in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Ireland and invests heavily in their safety and health. Boliden is a high-tech metal company with its own mines and smelters. They work long-term with everything from mining ore to production and the delivery of high quality metal to industry. They are also the market leader in electronics recycling and the recycling of lead from car batteries. They have more than 90 years of knowledge and innovation.
In the mining industry there are risks and stressful tasks such as handling large material flows, high temperatures and sometimes also hazardous substances. For Boliden, working to create a safe and healthy workplace is a top priority and the Group has a zero vision for accidents at work. To achieve this, they work to promote a common safety culture that permeates the entire Group. This strategy means that each individual, group and leader jointly takes responsibility for following current safety procedures and demonstrating good risk awareness.
Boliden’s safety culture and performance are crucial for a stable business and profitability. Accident prevention avoids delays affecting production. High safety is attractive to both the workforce and investors.
But Boliden wants to expand its work with safety and take it to the next level with technology that has not been available before. This is where WAVR comes into play.
If there are new technologies that can increase the safety and health of our employees, we naturally want to be involved in developing them in order to
continue to be at the forefront of our work with safety.Annika Kruuna, Manager Health & Safety, Boliden Mines
Our technology allows us to make measurements at the individual level with built-in and connected sensors that provide important real-time information about the miner’s health and safety situation under normal working conditions. Examples of what the sensors can continuously demonstrate are the body’s positioning, posture and unnatural movements. Lying positions are critical to detect to determine if a person working alone is injured. When it comes to positions, it is important to detect overload and ergonomic positions that can lead to damage over a longer period of time. By applying AI-based analysis to the data we collect from the sensors, both immediate and long-term risks in terms of safety and health can be detected and prevented.
We at WAVR are happy and proud to have this collaboration with Boliden that is fully in line with our our vision “A world with less wear and tear on humans”.
