Thousands of miners risk their lives every day when they go down into the shafts. This occupation is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Underground mines are notorious for noxious and explosive gas emissions. For this reason, health and safety are always given top priority in mining. A lot depends on the equipment used to ensure health and safety in the mines. New technologies and innovations also play an important part. New inventions can save miners' lives while significantly boosting the output, seeing how even a minor incident can bring the mining operations to a standstill and result in major losses for the mining company. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that some incidents can result in serious liability and even criminal prosecution for company management.
Evgeny Grebenschikov, the founder and CEO of Rescuer Trading House LLC, is regarded as one of the world's most famous innovators and inventors in this field. His company develops, manufactures, and deploys special mining equipment and personal protective gear for miners. Evgeny Grebenschikov has first-hand knowledge of the problems that many mining companies and their employees have to deal with. The future inventor started his career as a procurement officer, but he soon found his passion for improving protective equipment for miners. As a result, he soon moved into health and safety. At Rescuer Trading House LLC, Evgeny Grebenschikov oversees the design and manufacture of some truly unique equipment. To a large extent, this has been made possible by Evgeny's extraordinary talent as an inventor.
Evgeny has authored numerous inventions that have made cine commonplace in mining. First of all, we should mention, for example, the unique self-rescuer "Gornyak-2" for use by miners. What makes it really stand out from others is that it can produce oxygen for up to 70 minutes and comes with an electronic system that lets the user keep track of how much time is left. This self-rescuer design represented a major breakthrough in the mining industry when it came out. The model still stands head and shoulders above all competition.
However, Evgeny's most significant project is perhaps his Spasatel Digital system. What if we told you that miners could work hundreds of meters underground without exposing themselves to any danger whatsoever? To achieve that, special equipment needs to be installed in the mine that anticipates incidents rather than simply reports them. Naturally, this means that adequate preventive measures can be taken well in advance to avoid loss of life and large financial costs. You would say that this sounds like science fiction and that there will be no such technologies on Earth in the near future. But you'd be wrong, as it's already a reality! This is exactly what the unique system "Spasatel Digital" created by Evgeny Grebenshchikov is designed for.
It's designed to maximize the efficacy of other devices that ensure the health and safety of miners in underground shafts. We are talking about lamps with embedded chips that help pinpoint the location of the miner, gas sensors that detect the presence of dangerous gases in mine shafts, and self-rescuers that allow miners to keep breathing when a mine shaft gets filled with such gases. The Spasatel Digital unit significantly simplifies and expedites the tracking, issuance, and withdrawal of equipment from use. The system uses smart lockers for that. Every miner gets assigned their own locker, which is accessed with an electronic card. If the piece of equipment they need turns out to be unfit for use for whatever reason, a reserve locker will open, giving the miner access to a spare unit.
All the data the system collects from the smart locker gets uploaded to the server. The system notifies employees in charge when safety equipment needs to be checked and when its service life comes to an end, so that no miner will get left without essential personal protective gear through someone's neglect. Furthermore, company management can easily monitor the use of safety equipment by personnel and instantly get information about who checked out what at any time.
All of this not only ensures safety for the miners but reduces the workload of the company's other staff. The automatic tracking of safety equipment simplifies all business processes and cuts down expenses. This allows the company to make use of the freed-up resources to further improve the efficiency of its operations.
"We've undertaken to install, monitor and maintain the station continuously: all the information gets uploaded to one computer so that every component of the equipment can be monitored remotely. Sapsatel Digital not only reduces the company's expenses and improves safety for its workers, but it also boosts the company's image, enabling it to achieve its goals in less time," Evgeny explains.
The system's already being used by Evgeny Grebenschikov's long-time partners. These include such famous major companies and corporations such as Severstal, Siberian Coal Energy Company, Evraz Group, Urals Mining and Steel Company, Mechel, ALROSA, Nornickel, LUKOIL, and others. They've deployed the Spasatel Digital system and have come to appreciate its numerous benefits.
"We are open to new cooperation because we are confident that ours is a very serious and extremely important business. This system not only raises the image of companies, but also brings them to a new level of income and helps them not to worry about various inspections. It is in our interest to make sure all the mines have cutting-edge equipment and miners are issued with innovative rescue gear and the obvious benefit for the company is they don't have to pay any fines or incur extra expenses to deal with the aftermath of accidents."
The expert Grebenshchikov rightfully believes that when people's lives and the business performance directly depend on innovation and technology, there is no much time to waste on reflection. The faster you adopt the new technology, the better.
