TOP PHOTO:  The lamp room at Gibfield Colliery Atherton

By Joseph Roy

CARYVILLE, TN (WLAF) – The utilization of “Lamp Checks” became common in mining operations during the late nineteenth century. Lamp Checks systems were used to inform mining management of who was working in the mine.  Which in turn, allowed rescue services to quickly determine who was in the mine. So how did it work?

Early lamp check systems (Sometimes called Token check or Tallies check) used the following system for safety.  A miner was issued a unique token which the employee took home at the end of their shift.  When the shift began, the miner would then use this token by giving it to the “Lamp Man” who would issue the miner a lamp that had the same number stamped as the token.  The token would be displayed on a “Tally Board” to track who was in the mine.  At the end of the shift the miner would turn in their lamp and receive the token to take with them.

Fast forward 140 years to present day, and the industry is still faced with the same challenge.  Anyone who has visited a large worksite or factory are familiar with the check in process. This process is completed largely for the same reasons as the original Lamp Check.  During the COVID-19 crisis, Hammrtech was asked by one of our customers to help digitize this in such a way that reduces the risk of infection.

What we built is a product called Lamp Check in homage to our coal mining forefathers.  The idea is simple, we created a site that is linked through a QR code that can be scanned from your cell phone.  This navigates to a website we built that asks some simple questions to the visitor such as their name, email, length of visit, and person they are visiting. After this information is received, it gets recorded into a database accessible by management. Our system also sends an email 15 minutes before the scheduled end of visit to the guest and asks if they need to extend their time.  This allows for accurate recording of who is onsite and removes the need for people to touch the same kiosk or computer. This will result in reducing errors, allows for retention of records, and it does not require anything but a cell phone.

About the Author: My name is Joseph Roy and I am a veteran and a Campbell County resident with over 8 years of experience in the IT community. I work for Hammrtech, LLC, a business in Caryville.  Our team of experts would like to offer a free 30-minute consultation to any small business owner. Please click here to schedule a consultation today.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 07/17/2020-6AM)