Mining and quarrying operations

Underground or above ground, there's no room for guesswork

Control who can start each vehicle, enforce pre-start checks, and protect your people around heavy machinery.

Three places where small gaps create serious risk

Mining and quarrying sites already have strong safety protocols. The challenge is enforcing them consistently across every operator, every vehicle, and every shift, both on the surface and underground.

Access control

Is the right operator using the right vehicle?

Access control makes sure only authorised, trained operators can start specific vehicles, meeting regulatory requirements without paper-based sign-outs.

Pre-Shift Safety Checks

Before the vehicle moves, is it safe to go?

Digital pre-start inspections capture defects before a shift starts, and critical faults lock the vehicle until they are rectified.

AI pedestrian detection

Can your operators react before it’s too late?

AI-based camera solutions alert operators when people enter high-risk zones around moving vehicles in areas with limited visibility.

Only the right person should start the vehicle

Training records and sign-out sheets help, but they do not control what happens at the vehicle, especially during shift handovers, agency cover, or high-pressure periods.

Access control ensures that only authorised operators can start and use specific vehicles. Every key-on event is linked to an individual operator, giving supervisors a clear record of who used what and when. That record is what the Mines Regulations 2014, the Quarries Regulations 1999, and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) all require you to be able to produce.

Restrict vehicle use to authorised, trained operators
Meet operator authorisation requirements digitally, above ground and below
Remove access instantly, with no physical key changes needed
Full audit trail of operator activity, by vehicle and by shift

The VAC4 terminal has an IP67 rating, button-led controls, and is built for dust, water, and gloved hands.

Explore how access control works

Once access is controlled, the next question is whether the vehicle itself is safe to move.

Make every pre-start inspection impossible to skip

A vehicle defect underground can become a safety incident. The same is true of a fault on a quarry haul road vehicle. Paper checklists are rushed or skipped under shift pressure, and the gap usually shows up only after something has gone wrong.

Digital pre-start inspections make the check mandatory. Operators complete it before the vehicle moves. If a critical defect is flagged, the vehicle is automatically locked out until the maintenance clears it.

Enforce inspections before every vehicle movement
Automatic lock-out on critical defects, so no unsafe vehicle returns to service
Audit-ready inspection records without paper trails
Support audit-ready records without relying on paper trails

Explore how digital checks work

When the vehicle is checked, the next question is what happens around it.

Help your operators react before people get hurt

Narrow tunnels, poor lighting, and loud machinery make it difficult to see people on foot. Even experienced operators miss pedestrians in blind spots. Above ground, the same problem occurs around open-cast equipment, weighbridges, and site entrances.

AI-based camera detection alerts operators the moment a person enters a high-risk zone around a moving vehicle.

Alert operators when people or vehicles enter high-risk zones
Protect workers in tunnels, blind spots, and busy surface zones
Surface data to identify repeat risk areas on your site
Use incident data to improve site layout and working practices

Explore how proximity detection works

The challenge isn't commitment to safety.
It's achieving consistent visibility across every operator and every vehicle.

Proven in UK mining operations

Cleveland Potash has used Powerfleet’s solutions for its underground fleet at Boulby Mine in North Yorkshire, one of Europe’s deepest mines, for more than 10 years.

25+

Underground vehicles running access control and digital pre-start checks

10+

Years with Powerfleet at Boulby Mine

Here at Boulby Mine, the Powerfleet system effectively controls access to the underground diesel fleet, with many additional benefits over the previous system.

Stephen Hall

Mechanical Foreman, Cleveland Potash

Read the Cleveland Potash story

Free site risk assessment

See where your biggest risks are

In a short session, we’ll walk through your operation, either on the surface or below ground, and show you where your biggest transport risks lie.

40%

Transport accounts for 40% of all accidents in quarries and 60% of all deaths.
(Source: hse.gov.uk)

24

Workers in Great Britain were killed after being struck by a moving vehicle in 2025/26, making it the second most common kind of fatal workplace accident.
(Source: hse.gov.uk)

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We’ll identify the blind spots in your operation. No obligation, no pressure.