Left to right are Brandon Vance, Dr. Dominique Gagnon, Dr. Tammy Eger, MP Marc Serré, Dr. Pierre Zundel, MP Paul Lefebvre, Dr. Alison Godwin, and Dr. Sandra Dorman.
Laurentian University’s Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) will receive $286,172 in new funding from the federal government’s FedNor program to support the completion of the centre’s new Workplace Simulator.
The Workplace Simulator will integrate a robotic platform, an environmental chamber and virtual reality eye-tracking to become the first laboratory in Canada with the infrastructure to simulate the environment and work tasks in the mining industry.
The establishment of the simulator will enhance the capacity of CROSH to solve unique occupational health and safety challenges, including vibration-induced injury, mobile equipment accidents, physical exertion and fatigue.
Graduate students and technicians at CROSH will also be trained to lead research and development and proof of concept projects for companies that wish to sell products to northern industries.
The simulator will be installed in the Cliff-Fielding Research Engineering and Innovation building on the Laurentian University campus and is scheduled to be fully operational by the fall of 2018.
“This investment by FedNor underscores the federal government’s commitment to enhance occupational health and safety research and will ensure northern industries have access to infrastructure and highly qualified people for R&D in occupational health and safety,” said CROSH research chair Tammy Eger.
Source : www.sudburyminingsolutions.com