Monitoring Physiological Variables of Mining Workers at High Altitude

Miners working at high altitude must handle extreme climatic and physiological hazards without specialized medical supervision. For this reason, the mining industry is constantly looking for improvements to existing occupational safety and health programs in order to enhance working conditions for people and equipment. This paper presents the design and implementation of a continuous monitoring device to measure the physiological variables of miners at high altitudes (>2000 m.a.s.l.). Extreme environmental conditions are detrimental for human health; therefore, a continuous control of the workers' vital signs is necessary. The proposed system includes physiological variables such as electrocardiogram, respiratory activity, and body temperature, and environmental variables such as ambient temperature and relative humidity. The noninvasive sensors of the proposed system are embedded all throughout a T-shirt (first layer of protecting clothing) to achieve a functional device and maximum comfort for the users. The device is able to continuously calculate heart and respiration rate, and establish a wireless data transmission to a central monitoring station.