Smart Mining Helmet with Health & Safety Monitoring using ESP32 and IoT

Abstract

Mining remains one of the most hazardous industries due to the continuous exposure of workers to toxic gases, extreme environmental conditions, and health-related risks. This paper presents an IoT-enabled Smart Mining Helmet with Health and Safety Monitoring designed to improve worker protection through real-time environmental and physiological monitoring. The proposed system is built around the ESP32 microcontroller and integrates an MQ135 gas sensor for hazardous gas detection, an LM35/DS18B20 temperature sensor for temperature monitoring, a pulse sensor for heart rate measurement, and an IR eye-blink sensor for detecting worker fatigue or unconsciousness. The collected sensor data are processed by the ESP32 and transmitted wirelessly via Wi-Fi to a centralized monitoring system for continuous supervision. Whenever any monitored parameter exceeds predefined safety thresholds, the system immediately activates a buzzer and sends alert notifications, enabling rapid response to potential emergencies. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed system accurately monitors environmental and physiological conditions while providing reliable real-time alerts under both normal and hazardous scenarios. Compared with conventional mining safety systems, the proposed solution offers integrated health monitoring, continuous remote monitoring, and enhanced emergency response capabilities at a low implementation cost. The developed smart helmet provides an effective, scalable, and reliable solution for improving occupational safety in mining environments and can be extended to other hazardous industries such as construction, oil and gas, and chemical manufacturing.