WO2020250007A1

WO2020250007A1 - Environmental management system

Info

Publication number: WO2020250007A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/054841
Authority: WO
Inventors: Raphael GARCIA DA COSTA; Ian Neil CLARKE
Original assignee: Garcia Da Costa Raphael; Clarke Ian Neil
Priority date: 2019-06-11
Filing date: 2019-06-11
Publication date: 2020-12-17
Also published as: AU2019451095A1; ZA202110088B

Abstract

A computer implemented environmental management and monitoring system (10), which is apt to accommodate and assist multidisciplinary operations such as, for example, industrial and process plants, manufacturing facilities, mines, hospitals, schools and the like to continuously monitor and track variables related to environment, health and safety and to suggest corrective action. The invention extends to a method of using same.

Description

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

FIELD TO THE INVENTION

THIS INVENTION relates to the field of data processing and management systems, specially adapted for environmental, commercial, financial, and managerial purposes. In particular, the invention relates to a computer implemented environmental management system; and a method of use of such system.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Industrial and process plants, manufacturing facilities, mines, hospitals and the like are multidisciplinary operations employing large numbers of people. Therefore, these operations have to comply with legislation concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work. Promising, however, is that most of these multidisciplinary operations are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of compliance with occupational health, environmental and safety legislation and regulatory requirements that apply to the operations in which they are involved.

However, a common problem facing many multidisciplinary operations is the inability to comply with a myriad of legal requirements in respect of health and safety.

One health and safety issue that are often lethargically attended to is dust control.

Although, some control measures are in place in most multidisciplinary operations, it is especially hospitals and industrial manufacturing facilities in developing countries as well as mining houses operating in open pit mining areas, that often fail to comply. The lack of efficient control over variables effecting safety, health, and welfare of people at work is elucidated by way of one non-limiting example, referring to open pit mining areas where efficient dust control is lacking. Some mining houses do employ equipment such as“smart dust sensors” to monitor moisture contained in the soil. In response to a‘watering-required’ signal received from the“smart dust sensors”, water cart operators are normally instructed from a control room by radio to water areas where the signal emitting“smart dust sensors” are located. All in all, this way of functioning can be described as a feedback control system, which functions to rectify problems that have already occurred.

It is common knowledge that feedback control systems are not as effective as a feedforward control system. The feedback control system measures a variable and uses that variable to make decisions at a stage when dust is already a problem. Feed forward systems, on the other hand, can anticipate changes in the measured variable, working proactively instead of reactively.

Non-compliance or ineffective control of the dust problem is not only an environmental problem, but also affects the overall efficiency and cost model of a mining operation. For instance, when a water cart operator is dispatched to a location where a“smart dust sensor” senses a dust problem, no control exists over the amount of water in the water cart, the tempo with which water is applied onto the road surface where the dust problem exists, the route of the water cart driver to reach the problematic area, and the time it takes to reach and attend to the problematic area.

Accordingly, a need exists for a computer implemented environmental management and monitoring system, which is apt to accommodate and assist multidisciplinary operations such as, for example, industrial and process plants, manufacturing facilities, mines, hospitals and the like.

It is believed that both individuals and companies involved in these multidisciplinary operations can benefit by being linked to a computer implemented environmental management system in accordance with the invention. Such a system is adapted to provide individuals and companies involved with equanimity when dealing with decisions related to risk and quality management in the safety, health, environmental, and quality environment. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In broad terms, and in accordance with this invention, there is provided a computer implemented environmental management system to facilitate a multidisciplinary operation such as, for example, industrial and process plants, manufacturing facilities, mines, hospitals and the like, or any other person having an interest in, and authority to investigate property of said multidisciplinary operation, to make an informed decision about environmental aspects of the property, the environmental management system comprising: at least one primary measuring device for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work; at least one secondary measuring device for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about at least one secondary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work; a gateway module, in intermittent or live communication with said at least one primary and secondary measuring devices, for exchanging, channeling and queuing published live data streams and having a first set of computer executable instructions for breaking, digesting and storing said published data streams on relational server means; an analysis module, having a second set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means for:

retrieving a data stream stored on relational server means, matching it up with earlier published data streams of the at least one primary or secondary variable stored on said dimensional server means,

determining whether a threshold value or trend related to the primary of secondary variable has been violated by the retrieved data stream, and storing said retrieved data stream on dimensional server means; a suggestive module, having a third set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means for pattern matching, inference and prediction so as to suggest process behavioural change or action such that instead of waiting for the primary variable to change at the primary measuring device before action to counteract the change is taken, the feed forward control arrangement of the analysis module anticipates the effect of the input data stream received from the one or more secondary variables and functions to counteract any foreseeable change in the primary variable in order to avoid an undesired outcome in respect of at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work.

In an embodiment, the gateway module for data digestion comprises a wrapping protocol for wrapping the incoming data and securely routing same to a core system, the core system being apt to unwrap the protocol, work a queuing algorithm and store the data as a queued stream on said relational server means.

In an embodiment, every data stream going to and from the gateway module is wrapped with a unique protocol that carries the necessary information and identifiers from an originating node all the way to the analysis module.

In an embodiment, every data stream going to and from the gateway module passes through brokers apt to receive and route streams coming from any subscribed nodes to queues so that system consumers that listen or are subscribed to that queue receive the data streams for processing.

In an embodiment of the invention, the primary variable may be selected from any one of the following: road surface temperatures, soil moisture measured in and around a mining or loading area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart; water flow rate measured onto surface of a road and any dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; and the amount of water carts and graders operating at any given time to suppress dust and maintain the mining site or loading area.

In an embodiment of the invention, the one or more secondary variables may be selected from any one or more of the following: month; time of day; wind speed; wind direction; ambient temperature; atmospheric pressure; atmospheric composition measured in a dust problem area; soil moisture measured in and around a mining or loading area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart, water flow rate measured onto surface of a dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; the amount of water carts operating at any given time to suppress dust; the travelling speed of a water cart; and the route travelled by a water cart and or grader operator in and around the mining or loading area.

In an embodiment of the invention, a feed forward arrangement is combined with a feedback arrangement.

The computer implemented environmental management system may further comprise: a server means for storing the primary and one or more secondary variables that relates to the property; a variable information load module, in communication with the server means, containing software instructions for causing the system to: generate assessment questions to be answered by the multidisciplinary operation about a selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property; outline environmental industry standards used to evaluate input provided by the multidisciplinary operation answering the assessment questions; and store the assessment questions and mining industry standards in the server means; and an interrogation module, in communication with the server means and the multidisciplinary operation, configured to acquire the pre-loaded assessment questions from the server means and to present the pre-loaded assessment questions to the multidisciplinary operation, accept a response from said multidisciplinary operation, evaluate said response in view of said environmental industry standards, and store evaluated results of the multidisciplinary operation; an option module, in communication with the server means and the multidisciplinary operation, configured to present said multidisciplinary operation’s evaluated response to the multidisciplinary operation together with a selectable output option tailored to address environmental compliance shortcomings identified by the interrogation module; and an access module, for accessing and presenting the evaluated results to an authorised user in the mining industry to enable same to make an informed decision about one or more of said selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property.

Moreover, the invention may provide for the computer implemented environmental management system to comprise an operational platform as a selectable output option, wherein the operational platform comprises computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer processor perform steps of providing a user interface with differing levels of user access.

In an embodiment, an environmental manager, measuring device operator and multidisciplinary operation management have varying degrees of access to the user interface.

In an embodiment, the operational platform comprises visual display and/or audible reporting about live measurements being taken in respect of a selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property.

In an embodiment, the operational platform comprises a set of computer executable instructions in communication with live input data streams received from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property, that when executed by a computer processor calculate a preferred action or primary variable setting changes to be taken, based on input data streams received from the one or more secondary variables, before undesired change presents itself in respect of the primary variable. In an embodiment of the invention there is provided for the computer implemented environmental management system to further comprise a retrieval module linked to the server means and configured to access and retrieve, from remote databases, further environmental aspect information.

The retrieval module may be adapted to verify the property owner, or one or more persons having authorised access in respect of the environmental management system and to report and store said owner or person’s verification information on the server means.

The invention also extends to a method for facilitating an environmental related decision concerning a property owner, or any other person having an interest in, and authority to investigate, a multidisciplinary operation of the property owner, to make an informed decision about environmental aspects of the multidisciplinary operation, the method comprising: providing a computer implemented environmental management system with at least one primary measuring device and at least one secondary measuring device for measuring primary and secondary variable values related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or in a public space at the multidisciplinary operation; measuring and publishing live input data streams about said primary and secondary variables; exchanging, channeling and queuing published live data streams by means of a gateway module, in live communication with said at least one primary and secondary measuring devices, so as to store said published data streams on relational server means after being acted upon by a first set of computer executable instructions for breaking, digesting and storing published live input data streams; by means of an analysis module, having a second set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means, retrieving a data stream stored on relational server means, matching it up with earlier published data streams of the at least one primary or secondary variable stored on said dimensional server means, and

determining whether a threshold value or trend related to the primary of secondary variable has been violated by the retrieved data stream, and storing said retrieved data stream on dimensional server means; by means of a suggestive module, having a third set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means,

pattern matching, inferring and predicting so as to suggest process behavioural change or action such that instead of waiting for the primary variable to change at the primary measuring device before action to counteract the change is taken, the feed forward control arrangement of the analysis module anticipates the effect of the input data stream received from the one or more secondary variables and functions to counteract any foreseeable change in the primary variable in order to avoid an undesired outcome in respect of at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work.

The method may further comprise:

utilizing the interrogation module to acquire loaded assessment questions from server means and to present the assessment questions to the property owner, accept a response from said owner, evaluate said response in view of said environmental industry standards, and store evaluated results of said owner;

utilizing the option module to present said owner’s evaluated response to the owner together with a selectable environmental option tailored to address environmental shortcomings identified by the interrogation module;

utilizing the agreement module to bring about a legal contract between the property owner and an environmental service provider to cover environmental aspects not otherwise covered upon selection of offered option; and

utilizing the access module to access and present the evaluated results to an authorised user to enable same to make a decision about environmental aspects of the property on an informed basis. The method may include that the environmental related decision is either to select or to reject the offerings of the environmental service provider.

The method may also include employing the retrieval module to access and retrieve further aspect information from remote databases.

The method may include employing an operational platform having a set of computer executable instructions in communication with live input data stream received from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property; employing said platform to calculate, when executed by the computer processor, a preferred action to be taken, based upon input received from the one or more secondary variables, before undesired change presents itself in respect of the primary variable.

The method may include visualization of live measurements from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property on a graphical user interface.

The method may also include employing the retrieval module to verify the property owner in respect of one or more criterion and to report and store said owner’s verification information on the server means.

The method may include utilizing a computing device including, but not limited to, a laptop, palmtop, desktop, smart phone or the like generally connected or connectable to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols such as Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, LiFi, 3G, 4G, etc., that can operate interactively and autonomously, and which employs a computer-readable medium being a data storage device selected from the group consisting of a dedicated hard disk; hard drive, whether internal of external and connectable by firewire or USB; flash memory device; SD card; tape drive or microchip.

The method may include operation of the operational platform on any number of preferred operating systems such as, for example, iOS, ANDROID, BlackBerry, Bada, MeeGo, Palm, Symbian, web OS and the like.

In an embodiment, the method may include utilizing a wireless communication interface for effecting communication between the server means, the respective modules of the environmental management system, the property owner and registered or authorised users such as the environmental service provider or environmental authorities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying non-limiting diagrammatic drawings. In the drawings:

Figure 1 shows a system diagram of a computer implemented environmental management and monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention for use by a multidisciplinary operation such as a mine, or other authorised person or authority having an interest in said operation or mine;

Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic representation of a method of utilizing the computer implemented environmental management and monitoring system of Figure 1 , according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 shows a diagrammatic representation of a further method of utilizing the computer implemented environmental management system of Figure 1 to facilitate decision making in the environmental industry, according to an embodiment of the invention; and

Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of a typical architecture of the environmental management and monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This description is presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how at least one of the forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.

The lack of efficient control over variables effecting safety, health, and welfare of people at work is illuminated in the detailed description that follows by way of one non-limiting example, referring to open pit mining areas where efficient dust control is particularly lacking.

It is, however, foreseen that the environmental management and monitoring system (10) referred to in this specification and in the drawings, may be utilized not only in the mining sector but across multidisciplinary operations including, but not limited to industrial sites, manufacturing plants, hospitals, schools, public event locations, stadia, and shopping centres.

Referring to Figure 1 , a computer implemented environmental management and monitoring system (10) in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, is depicted.

The system (10) consists of means to bring ‘important information’ regarding an environmental service provider to the attention of a multidisciplinary operation such as a mining house owning a property; or to the attention of government authorities responsible for environmental and safety aspects of the multidisciplinary operation. As said before, the system (10), may equivalently apply to environmental and safety aspects of a hospital that can be brought under the attention of government healthcare authorities, although such application is not in totality described herein.

In one application of the invention, the system (10) finds application in that an operational platform or computing device (12) is provided which is accessible not only to the abovementioned top end decision makers of multidisciplinary operations, but also to occupational health and safety officers, authorised plant personnel and even water cart operators functioning on a daily basis in a dusty environment in a mining environment. Such accessibility is effected via a dedicated user interface typically displayable on a mobile device operated by any of the abovementioned persons.

Although the description below focuses mainly on dust problems encountered in mining areas, especially open pit mining areas where dust suppression plays a major role, it will be appreciated that this invention and its scope is broad enough to cover the ambit of other industrial or agricultural areas where dust suppression may be required and where various similar measurables variables are at play.

The‘important information’ may include a myriad of data related to various environmental, safety and health aspects ranging from, for example, name and physical address information of the mining property; the mining property owner or mining house; history of health, environmental and safety related claims against the mining property in question; history of insurance cover and the extent thereof; details about environmental control measures and equipment in place at the mining property such as, for example, weather stations, dust suppressant holding capacity, water storage capacity, pumping capacity, water cart availability, thermal camera capacity, smart dust sensors, and amount of water filling points. In fact, it will be appreciated that the live data collected, may be stored, once obtained, on suitable server means (14) or any other appropriate data storage device forming part of the system (10) so that it can be accessed by an authorised user who may be in need of such data. The storage may also be cloud based.

Typically, live data streams are collected from measuring devices (also referred to herein as‘publishers’ shown in Figure 4) capable of being informative about environmental, safety and health variables on an ongoing basis. The measuring devices are located at or near the property which is monitored for health, safety and environmental aspects and the measured data is then acted upon by a set of modules (the so-called proprietary Sentinel™ software system) containing software instructions. The live data streams relates to measurements being taken about a selected primary variable (16), and one or more secondary variables (18.1 - n) that have an influence on the primary variable.

The primary variable (16) is typically, in the example of a mining property or environment as shown in Figure 1 , selected from any one of the following: soil moisture measured in a dust problem area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart; water flow rate measured onto surface of a dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; and the amount of water carts operating at any given time to suppress dust. The one or more secondary variables may be selected from any one or more of the following: month; time of day; wind speed; wind direction; ambient temperature; atmospheric pressure; atmospheric composition measured in a dust problem area; soil moisture measured in a dust problem area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart, water flow rate measured onto surface of a dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; the amount of water carts operating at any given time to suppress dust; the travelling speed of a water cart; and the route travelled by a water cart operator to a dust problem area.

Therefore, in use and in one typically example, the system (10) functions by accepting live input data streams from a primary measuring device about a primary variable such as dust suppressant mass (16) available on the property. The system (10) also on a constant basis receives live input data streams from secondary variables such as a weather station wind speeds soon to be expected (18.1); dust monitoring device data at a certain location within the property (18.2), water cart availability at a given time (18.3); and water availability levels (18.4) for required mixing with dust suppressants. The live data received from the secondary variables (18.1 to 18.4) all have an expected impact on the primary variable (16) and therefore, having those data available and fed to a set of computer instructions or algorithm capable of anticipating, for example, a need of more suppressant as soon as wind speeds are expected to pick up can be a valuable aid to the mine owner or health and safety officer.

The environmental management and monitoring system (10) thus consists of a primary measuring device (15) such as a mass scale for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about the primary variable (16), being the suppressant mass, which does relate to safety, health, or welfare of people at work.

The system (10) also includes a secondary measuring device (17), being an anemometer for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about the secondary variable (18.1) being weather station wind speeds soon to be expected (18.1), which also relates to safety, health, or welfare of people at work.

A gateway module (19), as best shown in Figure 4, is provided for live communication with the mass scale (15) and the anemometer (17), for exchanging, channeling and queuing published live data streams received continuously from the mass scale (15) and the anemometer (17). The gateway module further includes a first set of computer executable instructions for breaking, digesting and storing said published data streams on relational server means (14.1).

In live communication with the gateway module (19), an analysis module (21) is provided as shown in Figure 4, having a second set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means (14.2). The analysis module (21) contains software for arranging retrieval of data streams stored on relational server means (14.1), matching it up with earlier published data streams of the mass scale (15) and the anemometer (17) stored on said dimensional server means (14.2), and determining whether a threshold value or trend related to the dust suppressant mass and wind speed (i.e. the primary and secondary variables (16) and (18.1) has been violated by the retrieved data stream, and storing the retrieved data stream on the dimensional server means (14.2).

In live communication with the analysis module (21), a suggestive module (23) is provided as shown in Figure 4, having a third set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means (14.2). The suggestive module (23) contains software for arranging pattern matching, inference and prediction so as to suggest process behavioural change or action. Therefore, instead of waiting for the dust suppressant mass (16) to change at the mass scale before action to counteract the change is taken, the feed forward control arrangement of the analysis module (21) anticipates the effect of the input data stream received from the live measured wind speed (18.1) by the anemometer but also from forecasts that are available in advance from trusted weather stations or bureaus relating to the week ahead.

The pattern matching, inference and prediction built into software of the suggestive module (23) therefore uses artificial intelligence to make future predictions as to how the change in wind speed (18.1) will affect depletion tempo of dust suppressant mass (16) available on the mine site. The suggestive module (23) therefore functions to counteract any foreseeable change in the primary variable (16) in order to avoid an undesired outcome in respect of the one or more primary variables related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or in a public space on that multidisciplinary facility. Figure 4 depicts a typical architecture of the environmental management and monitoring system (10).

All devices such as, for example, the mass scale (15) and the anemometer (17) mentioned above and many foreseeable other devices not mentioned herein, but which are capable of measuring either primary or secondary variables related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or at a public space, are referred to as publishers as they are apt to publish data streams on a continuous basis. Every stream of messages going to and from the publishers to the proprietary‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10) is wrapped with a unique protocol that carries the necessary information and identifiers from originating node all the way to its consuming system.

As shown in Figure 4, message brokers are provided between the publishers and consumers, which consumers are subscribed or are‘listening’ to published data streams before the consumers process received published data streams.

The message brokers receive and route streams coming from any subscribed nodes to queues so that consumers, of the proprietary ‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10), that are‘listening’ or subscribed to that queue receive it for their processing.

Queues are built around logical interest. The proprietary‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10) makes use of routing keys to identify which queue a stream of information belongs.

An Event Bus is responsible to send communication from the proprietary‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10) to the queues and - ultimately - to a target node(s).

The proprietary ‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10) or otherwise named the‘core system’ is where the domain knowledge, algorithms and inference lives. All the processing, pattern matching, inference, machine learning and suggestion comes from this service which is built into the analysis and suggestive modules (21) and (23).

The Context Manager is a software package that lives in between the proprietary ‘Sentinel’ software’s staging layer and the presentation layer. This service is responsible to orchestrate context injection into any stream as per instruction received from suggestive module (23).

The Staging Layer is a software package that includes master data containing all the details about a stream. This layer does not contain any context and it’s only responsible to store the action/event originating from a subscribing node/site.

The Presentation Layer is a software package that sits within the suggestive module (23) Written to compile data stack including relevant / contextualised data ready to be served to a so-called‘Rest API’, which in turn is a microservice (middleware) serving requests from a system client. This Rest API is secure, and role based, ensuring governance and data protection.

It needs to be stressed that the proprietary‘Sentinel’ software built into the environmental management and monitoring system (10) is arranged for use on a Web App, a Mobi App, and as a Reporting tool. These are all ancillary applications to serve the data for system user’s consumption.

In use, for example, the operational platform may accordingly be linked to output of the algorithms of the analysis and suggestive modules (21) and (23) so that the mine owner or health and safety officer or even water cart operator receives a warning on his or her cellular phone by way of a dedicated application before an event having a negative health and safety or environmental impact can occur.

A method (50) of utilizing the system (10) is furthermore depicted in Figure 2.

Method (50) consists of a number of steps including providing and setting up (52) the computer implemented environmental management system (10) at a mining or otherwise multidisciplinary operation, such as a school, hospital or shopping mall to name but few examples. In such an instance, publishers are brought into live communication with the gateway (19) and analysis module (21); and optionally, with the suggestive module (23) as well, should the user request same.

The method (50) further includes the step of utilizing (54) the gateway module (19) having exchanges, channels and queues for wrapping data streams received from publishers from a particular node/site and storing same on relational storage means (14.1).

In addition, the method (50) includes the step of utilizing (56) an analysis module (21) to retrieve a stored stream and matching it with context for analysis stored on dimensional storage means (14.2) by including that stream to the overall aggregate for a node/ operations site.

Finally, the method (50) includes the step of utilizing (58) a suggestive module (23) to passively store data streams not violating any threshold; or interjecting if data is abnormal to a trend that has already been built up through time, by building upon data mining and to send an alert to users authorised to access the platform (12).

Referring again to Figure 3, in addition to server means (14), the system (10) also consists of a variable information load module (20). The module (20) is typically stored on a computer medium that can be accessed by a suitable smart phone or other computing device thereby to establish electronic communication with the server means (12). The module (20) contains software instructions in suitable computer code for causing the system (10) to operate in a desired way.

Firstly, the variable information load module (20) is programmed to generate questions for an assessment to be conducted on the current state of affairs in respect of environmental management of the mining property owner. Secondly, the module (20) is programmed to define or outline performance standards used to evaluate inputs provided by the mine owner undergoing the assessment. Thirdly, the module (20) is programmed to store the assessment results and performance standards on the server means (12).

Again, referring to Figure 3, the system (10) further consists of an interrogation module (22) in communication with the server means (12) and configured to acquire the assessment questions from the server means (12) and to present the assessment questions to the mine property owner for answering. The interrogation module (20) is also adapted to accept a response from the mine property owner whereafter it can evaluate the response in view of the environmental industry standards. The interrogation module (22) is further configured to store evaluated results of the mine property owner. The module (16) is electronically in communication with the server means (12) and contains software instructions for causing the system (10) to operate in the above described specific way.

Again, referring to Figure 3, the system (10) additionally consists of an option module (24) to present the owner’s evaluated response to the owner or another interested and authorised person together with one or more selectable environmental cover options tailored to address environmental management shortcomings identified by the interrogation module;

Again, referring to Figure 3, the system (10) additionally consists of an agreement module (26) to bring about a legal contract between the mine property owner and an environmental service provider to cover and address aspects not otherwise covered for at the property.

Again, referring to Figure 3, the system (10) additionally consists of an access module (28) for accessing and presenting the evaluated results to an authorised user to enable same to make the environmental management related decision on an informed basis concerning an aspect of the current environmental situation of the mine site.

Again, and referring to Figure 3, the system (10) optionally consists of a retrieval module (30) linked to the server means (14) and configured to access and retrieve further aspect information of the owner from remote databases such as, for example, weather station forecasts. The system (10) is further adapted to investigate and verify the mine property owner in respect of one or more criterion and to report and store said owner’s verification information on the server means (14).

It will be appreciated that such access to the server means (14) is usually obtained by entering a dedicated username and password from a suitable device such as, for example a personal computer, laptop or smartphone.

One would appreciate that in order to have access to the further aspect information offsite or remote databases would need to be utilized. In this regard, hyperlinks may be employed to ensure integration and communication between the retrieval module (30), remote databases (not shown) and the server means (12) thereby to gain access to the further aspect information.

In use, a person desirous of obtaining results from the computer implemented system (10), whether it is an authorised user in the form of a mining property owner or an authorised user in the form of a mine health and safety officer or even water cart operator, utilizes the operational platform (12) and access module (28) to access and have the live measurements of the primary (16) and secondary variables (18) presented to him/her.

Referring to Figure 1 , it will be appreciated that before the above access module (28) can be utilized by any authorised user, the method (100) for facilitating an environmental decision concerning a property, needs to be implemented.

The method (100) therefore consists of a number of steps as depicted in Figure 3, including providing (150) the computer implemented environmental management system (10) as described herein before. Thereafter, the modules interact and are utilized to: acquire (152) the assessment questions from the server means (14) and to present the assessment questions to the property owner being assessed in respect of an environmental aspect of the property; obtain (154) the assessment questions to direct the questions about the environmental aspects to the owner; communicate with the retrieval module (30) to access and retrieve (156) further aspect information from remote databases for evaluation by the interrogation module (22); evaluate said response (158) in view of environmental standards and remote database information and storing (160) same on the server means (14); based on response (158), present the owner with a calculated and viable environmental management option (162) for the property via an option module (24); accept a response from the owner that typically includes contracting online (164), via an agreement module (26), with an environmental management service provider; and store (166) evaluated results of said owner and provide access to said results to any authorised user of the system via an access module (28).

Obviously, the purpose of the environmental management system (10) is to ensure that an environmental related decision regarding the property is facilitated, with formerly difficult to obtain information about the property, now being uncovered and presented in one easy to navigate location so that the mining property owner finds it easier to select or to reject (62) the offerings of the environmental management service provider having been subjected to the method (100).

While preferred embodiments of the invention are shown and described, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the extent of the invention, but rather it is intended to cover all modifications and alternate methods, including: methods, for manufacturing the system (10), typically as a smartphone application on android or iOS platform, falling within the spirit and the scope of the invention.

The applicant believes that the methods, (50), (100) and environmental management and monitoring system (10) of the present invention, at least in part, addresses shortcomings in dealing with health, safety and environmental decisions involving the property of the owner of a multidisciplinary operation. As such, the methods (50), (100) and computer implemented system (10) of the present invention provides peace of mind, system adaptability and comfort of use for a person desirous of contracting an environmental management service provider and who requires a holistic view of health and safety related issues and variables having an impact on his business.

The enclosed set of claims defines the territory for which patent protection is sought.

Claims

1. An environmental management and monitoring system to facilitate a multidisciplinary operation such as, for example, industrial and process plants, manufacturing facilities, mines, hospitals and the like, or any other person having an interest in, and authority to investigate property of said multidisciplinary operation, to make an informed decision about environmental aspects of the property, the environmental management system comprising: at least one primary measuring device for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people present at the multidisciplinary operation; at least one secondary measuring device for measuring and publishing a live input data stream about at least one secondary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work; and at least one set of computer executable instructions contained in one or more modules on storage means in communication with live input data streams received from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property, such that when executed by one or more computer processors said instructions calculate a preferred action or primary variable setting changes to be implemented, based on input data streams received from the one or more secondary variables, before undesired change presents itself in respect of the at least one primary variable.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein a gateway module, is in intermittent or live communication with said at least one primary and secondary measuring devices, for exchanging, channelling and queuing published live data streams and having a first set of computer executable instructions for breaking, digesting and storing said published data streams on relational server means.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein an analysis module, having a second set of computer executable instructions is located on dimensional server means for: retrieving a data stream stored on relational server means, matching it up with earlier published data streams of the at least one primary or secondary variable stored on said dimensional server means; and determining whether a threshold value or trend related to the primary of secondary variable has been violated by the retrieved data stream; and storing said retrieved data stream on dimensional server means.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein a suggestive module, having a third set of computer executable instructions is located on dimensional server means for pattern matching, inference and prediction so as to suggest process behavioural change or action such that instead of waiting for the primary variable to change at the primary measuring device before action to counteract the change is taken, a feed forward control arrangement of the analysis module anticipates the effect of the input data stream received from the one or more secondary variables and functions to counteract any foreseeable change in the primary variable in order to avoid an undesired outcome in respect of at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or present at said property.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the gateway module for data digestion comprises a wrapping protocol for wrapping the incoming data and securely routing same to a core system, the core system being apt to unwrap the protocol, work a queuing algorithm and store the data as a queued stream on said relational server means.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein every data stream going to and from the gateway module is wrapped with a unique protocol that carries necessary information and identifiers from an originating node or site of a multidisciplinary operation.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein every data stream going to and from the gateway module passes through brokers apt to receive and route streams coming from any subscribed nodes to queues so that system consumers that listen or are subscribed to that queue receive the data streams for processing.

8. The system of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, the primary variable is selected from one or more of the following: road surface temperatures, soil moisture measured in and around a mining or loading area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart; water flow rate measured onto surface of a road and any dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; and the amount of water carts and graders operating at any given time to suppress dust and maintain the mining site or loading area.

9. The system of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein, the one or more secondary variables may be selected from any one or more of the following: month; time of day; wind speed; wind direction; ambient temperature; atmospheric pressure; atmospheric composition measured in a dust problem area; soil moisture measured in and around a mining or loading area; water flow rate measured entering a water cart, water flow rate measured onto surface of a dust problem area; dust suppressant storage volumetric level; dust suppressant dosage rate; water storage level; the amount of water carts operating at any given time to suppress dust; the travelling speed of a water cart; and the route travelled by a water cart and or grader operator in and around the mining or loading area.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a storage means for storing the primary and one or more secondary variables that relates to the property; a variable information load module, in communication with the storage means, containing software instructions for causing the system to: generate assessment questions to be answered by the multidisciplinary operation about a selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property; outline environmental industry standards used to evaluate input provided by the multidisciplinary operation answering the assessment questions; and store the assessment questions and mining industry standards on the storage means; and an interrogation module, in communication with the storage means and the multidisciplinary operation, configured to acquire the pre-loaded assessment questions from the storage means and to present the pre- loaded assessment questions to the multidisciplinary operation, accept a response from said multidisciplinary operation, evaluate said response in view of said environmental industry standards, and store evaluated results of the multidisciplinary operation; an option module, in communication with the storage means and the multidisciplinary operation, configured to present said multidisciplinary operation’s evaluated response to the multidisciplinary operation together with a selectable output option tailored to address environmental compliance shortcomings identified by the interrogation module; and an access module, for accessing and presenting the evaluated results to an authorised user in the industry to enable same to make an informed decision about one or more of said selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property.

11. The system of claim 1 or 10, comprising an operational platform as a selectable output option, wherein the operational platform comprises computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer processor perform steps of providing a user interface with differing levels of user access.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein an environmental manager, measuring device operator, multidisciplinary operation management and health and safety authorities have varying degrees of access to the user interface.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the operational platform comprises visual display and/or audible reporting about live measurements being taken in respect of a selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property.

14. The system of claim 1 or 10, further comprising further a retrieval module linked to the storage means and configured to access and retrieve, from remote databases, further environmental aspect information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the retrieval module verifies the property owner, or one or more persons having authorised access in respect of the environmental management system and to report and store said owner or person’s verification information on the storage means.

16. A method for facilitating an environmental related decision concerning a property owner, or any other person having an interest in, and authority to investigate, a multidisciplinary operation of the property owner, to make an informed decision about environmental aspects of the multidisciplinary operation, the method comprising: providing a computer implemented environmental management system with at least one primary measuring device and at least one secondary measuring device for measuring primary and secondary variable values related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or in a public space at the multidisciplinary operation; measuring and publishing live input data streams on a sequential basis about said primary and secondary variables; and employing at least one set of computer executable instructions contained in one or more modules on storage means in communication with live input data streams received from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property, such that when executed by one or more computer processors said instructions calculate a preferred action or primary variable setting changes to be implemented, based on input data streams received from the one or more secondary variables, before undesired change presents itself in respect of the at least one primary variable.

17. The method of claim 16, comprising exchanging, channeling and queuing published live data streams by means of a gateway module, in live communication with said at least one primary and secondary measuring devices, so as to store said published data streams on relational server means after being acted upon by a first set of computer executable instructions for breaking, digesting and storing published live input data streams.

18. The method of claim 16, comprising utilizing an analysis module, having a second set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means to, retrieve a data stream stored on relational server means, matching it up with earlier published data streams of the at least one primary or secondary variable stored on said dimensional server means, and

determine whether a threshold value or trend related to the primary of secondary variable has been violated by the retrieved data stream, and storing said retrieved data stream on dimensional server means.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising utilizing a suggestive module, having a third set of computer executable instructions located on dimensional server means to, pattern match, infer and predict so as to suggest process behavioural change or action such that instead of waiting for the primary variable to change at the primary measuring device before action to counteract the change is taken, the feed forward control arrangement of the analysis module anticipates the effect of the input data stream received from the one or more secondary variables and functions to counteract any foreseeable change in the primary variable in order to avoid an undesired outcome in respect of at least one primary variable related to safety, health, or welfare of people at work or in a public space at the multidisciplinary operation.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising utilizing an interrogation module to acquire loaded assessment questions from server means and to present the assessment questions to the property owner, accept a response from said owner, evaluate said response in view of said environmental industry standards, and store evaluated results of said owner; utilizing an option module to present said owner’s evaluated response to the owner together with a selectable environmental option tailored to address environmental shortcomings identified by the interrogation module;

utilizing an agreement module to bring about a legal contract between the property owner and an environmental service provider to cover environmental aspects not otherwise covered upon selection of offered option; and

utilizing an access module to access and present the evaluated results to an authorised user to enable same to make a decision about environmental aspects of the property on an informed basis.

21. The method of claim 20, comprising employment of a retrieval module to access and retrieve further aspect information from remote databases.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein further aspect information is selected from verification of details of the property owner, historic records in relation to health, safety and environmental issues concerning the property, historic trends in respect of one or more of the primary and secondary variables.

23. The method of claim 20, comprising employment of an operational platform having a fourth set of computer executable instructions in communication with live input data streams received from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property; employing said platform to calculate, when executed by a computer processor, a preferred action to be taken, based upon input received from the one or more secondary variables, before undesired change presents itself in respect of the primary variable.

24. The method of claim 20, comprising employment of a visualization module to visualization live measurements from the selected primary, and one or more secondary, variables of the property on a graphical user interface.

25. The method of claim 20, comprising employment of a computing device selected from any one or more of the following: a laptop, palmtop, desktop, smart phone generally connected or connectable to other devices or networks via different communication protocols including Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, LiFi, 3G, 4G, and 5G that can operate interactively and autonomously, and which employs a computer- readable medium being a data storage device selected from the group consisting of a dedicated hard disk; hard drive, whether internal of external and connectable by firewire or USB; flash memory device; SD card; tape drive or microchip.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the computing device is adapted for use on one or more of the following Operational Systems: MacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, ANDROID, BlackBerry, Bada, MeeGo, Palm, Symbian, and web OS.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the computing device includes utilization of a wireless communication interface for effecting communication between the storage means, respective modules of the environmental management system, the property owner and registered or authorised users.