PURPOSE:  To develop a practical worker warning device called HASARD (Hazardous Area Signaling and Ranging Device) that industry can license and to design and construct a Work Zone Analysis System (WZAS) for recording and quantifying worker exposure around moving vehicles and equipment.

RESEARCH SUMMARY:  According to MSHA statistics an average of 13 miners are killed each year by being run over or pinned by mobile mining equipment. At surface mines, these accidents frequently involve large dump trucks that drive over a smaller vehicle or a worker that is in a blind spot of the truck. Over 50% of these accidents could have been avoided if the equipment operator had been adequately warned of the impending collision. In addition, highway and street construction workers are at risk of fatal and serious nonfatal injury when working near passing motorists, construction vehicles and equipment. During 1992-98, 841 highway and street construction workers were fatally injured. In 465 (55%) of these cases the death was either vehicle- or equipment-related and, most likely occurred in the work zone. In 318 of the 465 (68%) fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle as by a passing traffic vehicle. The HASARD system has been developed to warn workers of their proximity to potentially dangerous areas around moving equipment. It has been thoroughly tested in the laboratory and is now ready for commercial licensing. A second patent on this device was granted in October 2004. Three companies have recently obtained user-development licenses and three other companies have applied for licenses and one CRADA. The WZAS was completed in May 2004 and is now being used to collect multi-camera video and GPS data at field sites. An Open Industry Briefing on "Proximity Warning Systems for Surface Mining and Roadway Construction" is currently planned to occur toward the end of 2006. A set of guidelines, for use by the surface mining and roadway construction industries, on how to implement the HASARD system on haulage trucks will also be developed by then. Both fatalities and injuries due to workers being run over or pinned by haul trucks, surface mining equipment, and roadway construction equipment are expected to significantly decline wherever this technology is successfully implemented. Also, this type of proximity warning system could be readily modified for helping to protect workers in other industries such as underground mining, manufacturing, agriculture, construction, and forestry.