Mining, health and safety conference takes place this week in Sudbury

An annual mining health and safety conference takes place in Sudbury this week — and this year's theme is reducing high-risk hazards.

Topics like workplace fatigue and industrial hygiene basics will be tackled.

Morning North6:52Sleep tracking wristband helping miners deal with workplace fatique

One of the issues discussed at this year's Mining Health and Safety Conference is workplace fatigue. A wristband that tracks sleeping patterns is helping those who work in mining. Monica Szabo of the Public Services Health and Safety Assoc. told us more.

Industrial hygiene is generally defined by occupational health and safety specialists as "the art and science dedicated to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of environmental stressors in, or arising from, the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the wellbeing of workers."

Workplace Safety North director Mike Parent told CBC News that when it comes to mining, workplace safety has been getting better in recent years, but more still needs to be done.

"We're noticing that [the frequency of fatalities] have not reduced in the trends we'd like to see, although we've seen significant improvements in reductions in the mining workplace," he said.

"The awareness has to take place at all levels of the organization."

Parent said mining continues to be an industry in which people are exposed to more risk.

"We tend to go into underground work environments where [there is environmental stress] trying to push the ground down. We have to control that. We also have large equipment, interacting around people."

Delegates will also talk about the findings of the recent provincial Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review.

This conference ends Thursday.