MINING SOFTWARE
Software-driven safety
Hoisting is another area of underground mining where there is a greater need to integrate software and hardware, with Alonso Morey, Technical Product Manager, ABB Process Industries division, explaining how this integration greatly benefits functional safety at mine sites.
Mine hoisting has always been high risk. Today, that risk is increasing as shafts go deeper, conveyances become larger, and hoists move at greater speeds to transport the ore and personnel required to meet rising demands. At the same time, automation is replacing manual control, shifting safety risks away from the hoist driver and towards system design, software and control integrity.“ In this environment, safety must be engineered into the hoist as a complete system rather than treated as a collection of administrative controls and mechanical safeguards,” Morey says.“ This is where ABB’ s Safety Plus suite for mine hoists comes into play.”
Traditional hoisting safety has focused on mandated protections such as overspeed and overtravel devices, hardwired interlocks and high reliance on manual actions by trained operators. These remain essential but are no longer enough for deep, high-speed and highly automated operations, Morey says. Modern hoisting, particularly at increased depths, relies on functional safety: safety functions implemented in control systems that automatically detect hazardous conditions and bring the hoist to a safe state.
“ Functional safety introduces an objective, risk-based approach,” he explains.“ Instead of simply verifying whether protection exists, it assesses how effective it is. For deep mine hoists, this frequently leads to safety integrity requirements equivalent to SIL( Safety Integrity Level) 3, reflecting the high energy involved and the severe consequences of failures.”
ABB, Morey says, has been at the forefront of applying functional safety to mine hoisting, and Safety Plus is built around this philosophy. He added:“ Rather than bespoke, site-specific solutions, the suite uses configurable, predesigned, third-party certified safety functions that can be deployed consistently across sites and regions.”
Safety Plus for mine hoists is a portfolio of integrated solutions that, together, protect the hoist from the shaft bottom to the headframe.
At its heart is the Hoist Monitor, a compact safety controller that includes 16 certified safety functions covering speed, position and direction. It is suitable for drum, friction and Blair multirope hoists, and can be installed in new projects or retrofitted to existing systems, including those with legacy controls. It can be used to detect hazards throughout the complete lifecycle, from shaft sinking to permanent operation. Importantly for deep operations, it provides continuous diagnostics and accurate position determination, allowing issues to be detected before they escalate into incidents.
Braking performance is another critical safety factor at depth. High speeds and long stopping distances demand precise, predictable control. The Safety Plus Brake System combines electrical and hydraulic brake control with SIL 3-certified protections and advanced diagnostics for all types of hoists. This allows controlled deceleration in both normal and emergency situations, reducing dynamic loads on ropes and mechanical components while maintaining reliable stopping behaviour, according to Morey.
Drive-based functional safety is delivered through Safe Torque Off( STO), which is integrated as standard in ABB drives. STO prevents unexpected movement by immediately removing torque generation and supports emergency stops while the hoist is in motion. Depending on the drive, this functionality is available up to SIL-3, adding a further layer of protection.
“ These elements come together in the Safety Plus Hoist Protector, ABB’ s complete, end-to-end SIL 3 hoisting safety solution,” Morey says.“ The Hoist Protector integrates monitoring, braking, drives and the complete hoist installation’ s instrumentation to manage multiple hazard scenarios across the hoist room, shaft access levels and headframe, ensuring the hoist is brought to – and kept in – a safe state when required.”
Predesigned, certified safety functions capable of being deployed globally create a powerful feedback loop, with lessons learned at one site rapidly incorporated into the same solution elsewhere. This, Morey says, raises safety performance across entire hoist fleets and safeguards consistent, predictable
Safety Plus for mine hoists is a portfolio of integrated solutions that, together, hoisting performance protect the hoist from the shaft bottom to the headframe over the full operating life of the asset.
“ This also simplifies compliance in a world where functional safety requirements are increasingly adopted into regional guidelines and corporate standards, often exceeding local regulations,” he added.
While the Safety Plus portfolio is designed to respond instantly to hazardous conditions, safety at depth is increasingly about prevention as much as reaction. Condition-based monitoring and predictive analysis complement the capabilities of functional safety software by identifying slowly developing risk conditions, as is the case with ABB’ s Smart Hoisting solution.
“ This approach reduces the likelihood that degradation in ropes, brakes or mechanical components reaches a point where emergency safety functions are triggered, improving both safety and availability,” Morey says.“ This is a crucial balance to maintain for deep, production-critical hoists.”
He concluded: As mines continues to go deeper, hoisting safety will remain dependent on the integration of functional safety, digitalisation and cyber security. Greater connectivity and remote monitoring demand robust protection against cyber threats, while advances in analytics and AI are expected to further improve predictive maintenance and risk forecasting.
“ With more than 50 independently certified safety-related hoisting control systems deployed across five continents, ABB’ s Safety Plus suite reflects a proven response to these challenges.”
70 International Mining | FEBRUARY 2026