How technology and training are shaping mine safety efforts

https://www.pitandquarry.com/how-technology-and-training-are-shaping-mine-safety-efforts/

Publish Date: 2026-05-15 13:30:00

Safety and health was one of seven core topics drawn up for discussion at the 2026 Pit & Quarry Roundtable & Conference. With mining fatalities up in 2025 and safety as value No. 1 in the aggregates industry, producers and equipment manufacturers weighed in on the state of safety, what’s working to uphold it and what more should be done. The conversation presented here took place April 1. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

KEVIN YANIK (PIT & QUARRY): One thing we’ve been hearing more about lately from producers is technology and how it can make operations safer. But we also keep hearing about training. It may sound strange to call training a ‘trend,’ but manufacturers and producers alike seem focused on training people up.

DARRELL WHITE (WESTMORELAND CONTRACT MINING): Core safety comes first for all of us. We operate our own lines and also provide external services to clients. One thing I see in the aggregate industry is a wide variation in safety quality that I don’t see as much in hard rock mining.

Westmoreland Contract Mining’s Darrell White says safety must be something industry leaders continuously raise the bar on. (Photo: PamElla Lee Photography)

We work with some clients who have strict, value-added procedures, processes and systems very similar to our own. Then, I can go to another site where nobody chalks their trucks, nobody’s wearing hard hats and basic procedures are ignored.

Even though these are all MSHA-regulated sites, there’s still a huge range in safety quality – and that’s concerning for the industry.

We need to send our people home safely all the time. As an industry, we can’t operate at the lowest common denominator. Safety has to be something we continuously raise the bar on.

Sometimes, companies behave according to how active or inactive MSHA is in a given area. But that doesn’t protect people, and it doesn’t create the kind of culture that sends the right message.

If we…

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