Predictive maintenance can help curtail mining accidents and incidents that can damage a company's reputation and compromise operations. Strain sensors and other devices can be used to track equipment reliability, helping mining companies select and use only machines that they know have been put to the test and have been found adequate.

Read more: Mine incidents show the need for predictive maintenance processes

Companies across the world are continuing to rely on mining-based commodities and activities such as silver, copper, zinc, aluminum and more. Even still, Colin Thurston, Thermo Fisher Scientific's director of product strategy for process industries, wrote on Australian Mining that the industry sees pressure with the new opportunities that come, including keeping workers and employees safe in these mines.

Read more: Safety imperative to modern mining

The mining industry has been working to improve employee safety within a sector that can be both hazardous and dangerous. In order to encourage safe practices within individual organizations, the mining industry as a whole must demonstrate its efforts for enhanced employee safety while on the job.

Read more: Increasing employee safety in the mining industry

Equipment condition monitoring is a must for companies that want to avoid costly, productivity-killing safety violations.

Read more: Lack of equipment monitoring cited in safety violations