Mining and salvaging ops outside of high sec usually leave you really vulnerable and as such, it’s not very accessible to people who aren’t multi boxing or whom are not in really large groups. This is especially true with the more expensive ships that end up being unusable in certain contexts for more casual players.
It obviously wouldn’t work to just make existing ships stronger but I think that adding a frigate bay to things like mining barges, exhumers and the noctis would go a long way towards making things more interesting because once your industrial ship gets destroyed, you have the option of continuing to fight in something that ships which can easily destroy some of those ships might be less good at fighting back against. Or in the alternative, it might give you a better method for escaping, which would in of itself make doing the more dangerous activities in these ships more appealing.
If you want to salvage or mine in more dangerous space, and not risk expensive ships, why not use the tools we already have?
T1 explorers for example are perfectly capable cheap agile salvaging platforms with their salvage bonus and especially large cargo holds. My own favourite is the Imicus that can field 4 salvage drones.
As for miners, I would recommend the T2 mining frigates if you wish to travel to more hostile space to mine. With their cloaks and agility these ships are intended for that role.
Bigger isn’t always better. The ships I mentioned will have an easier time surviving than barges and a Noctis in hostile space, and are cheaper to replace as well.