Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/562664
33 AGGREGATES MANAGER September 2015 TECHNOLOGY as well as a dosimeter and a respirable dust monitor for a combined noise and dust assessment to be made simultane- ously. The launch of this new health contaminant assessment was extremely positive for Vulcan's corporate health and safety staff, for the plant's management team, for the miners who actually wore the Helmet-CAM system, as well as for NIOSH personnel involved in this testing. NIOSH is currently in the final stages of modifying the related software (EVADE v2.0) to allow the Helmet-CAM technolo- gy to be used with other types of health assessments, and this approved version should be ready for public release within the next few months. Developing the Helmet-CAM The Helmet-CAM assessment technology system breaks a major roadblock pre- venting the assessment of how, when, and where workers are being exposed to respirable silica dust. Respirable silica dust and the development of silicosis remains a serious health issue for all workers around the world. A significant challenge in the fight against silicosis has remained the inability to deter- mine the magnitude of respirable silica exposures in the workplace. This chal- lenge has been reduced significantly by the development of the Helmet-CAM technology, which provides a quick and proven method to identify elevated levels of worker exposure, and a simple assessment tool to determine the effec- tiveness of targeted engineering control techniques or interventions to lower respirable dust exposures. Helmet-CAM is a simple and relatively inexpensive technology to set up and use. It consists of a lightweight video camera, a direct-reading data-logging aerosol monitor, and a method for hous- ing these instruments in a way that allows workers to perform their work in a safe and unimpeded fashion. A small compact video camera is attached to a worker's hardhat and records the work- ers' job tasks and movements while wearing the system. Simultaneously, an instantaneous aerosol nephelometer quantifies the worker's respirable dust exposure at specific time intervals — typically 2-second intervals. Once the video footage and respirable dust data are downloaded to a computer, the EVADE (Enhanced Video Analysis of Dust Exposure) software merges the data for simultaneous viewing to provide an assessment of specific aspects that impacted the workers' respirable dust exposure. By identifying those culprits responsible for elevated respirable dust exposure, a hierarchy of controls can be tailored and implemented to lower exposures. After extensive field testing by NIOSH at numerous mine sites in many differ- ent states, Helmet-CAM has become a driving impetus for mine operators to implement engineering control technol- ogies and interventions to lower respi- rable dust exposures. Numerous exam- ples can be cited by major stakeholders as to the benefits of identifying elevated respirable dust exposures which, in turn, results in the implementation of engineering controls/interventions to successfully lower worker's exposure. Accordingly, this technology has been adopted by many of the member com- panies in the Industrial Minerals Asso- ciation–North America and the National Industrial Sand Association. Helmet-CAM has also been adopted as a training tool for a number of major industrial sand producers. For example, plant manage- ment at one company included the Helmet-CAM as part of its management Figure 1. This beta version of EVADE (version 2.0) software shows graphs representing both the miner's noise exposure (1-second noise measurements plotted as a function of time) and respirable dust exposure. In the upper right of the figure above the graphs, the activity being performed is viewed.