FATIGUE MONITORING
Machinery supports PBM operations through its subsidiary Lau Metro .
In 2014 , the site management teams , together with organisational support from PanAust , developed a plan to improve the safety performance at its mining operations . The company reviewed four years of safety incident data at the onset of the program in 2014 . This initial audit discovered 48 vehicle-to-equipment , or equipment-to-equipment , contact events — an average of 12 incidents every year ; plus 38 equipment-to-environment or infrastructure contact events — an average of 9.5 events every year . These 86 events formed the basis for statistical evaluation and were further analysed to determine the primary causes . They found 16 of the 86 events were due to poor communication practices and 26 of the 86 events were directly attributable to fatigue . The remaining 44 events were directly attributable to the procedural and behavioral nonconformance , including 10 events linked to the use of mobile phones while operating machinery .
A basic paper-based fatigue management system was put in place for equipment operators . In addition , operators had been trained and competency records were being kept . The evidence , however , indicated that complacency had set in . Training records were incomplete and trainers had different opinions about what was required . The basic systems were fragmented and didn ’ t communicate with each other . A fatigue management consultant was engaged to review and assess potential risk factors that could arise from the roster arrangements and driving practices on the company ’ s concentrate haul route from Phu Kham to Vietnam . The review included inspections of the route , company-provided accommodation facilities , driver-reviver stops , and a practical assessment of all procedures for managing fatigue .
During the examination of the existing systems , it became apparent that operators failed to understand how their behaviour had directly contributed to safety incidents . Even when investigations showed that an operator was at fault due to fatigue or distraction , the operator was not willing to admit to it . This issue came back to culture . The immediate challenge was to get the workforce to understand that compliance to safety should be of equal concern as retaining employment , ensuring that crews understood their duty of care requirements and would be responsible for championing and owning their workplace safety .
The next step in the safety journey was the introduction of onboard cameras that monitored operators in the cab and provided a live feed to a team responsible for monitoring behaviors and looking for signs of fatigue . With these and the other initiatives in place , PanAust saw a links education with action to encourage fatigue significant improvement in safety statistics . By awareness and a change in behaviour . For December 2016 , the total recordable injury example , when the DSS detects a second frequency rate ( TRIFR ) at Phu Kham had microsleep , the operator is immediately removed decreased from 5 to 0.5 , including 10 months at 0 from the truck and a fatigue assessment is level . The first aid injury frequency rate dropped conducted . During this assessment , the operator from 25 to 4 , and total potential lost-time injuries has the opportunity to understand the had decreased from 43 to 7 events . contributors and proxies to fatigue , such as The data showed that progress was being hours of sleep , medication , yawning , dehydration made , but site teams knew more could be and head nodding . done . In late 2016 , mine managers from Phu After the mine managers returned to Laos , Kham and Ban Houayxai observed Cat DSS at safety initiatives continued to be refined and that year ’ s MINExpo in Las Vegas . What this improved on both sites . While some progress had system offered PanAust ’ s mines was the ability been made , fatigue and distraction continued to to immediately notify an operator if they were be an issue and the fatigue committee continued driving while distracted or drowsy . The system to search for additional solutions . In 2017 , the does that by itself , without any input from the committee began to evaluate fatigue operator or someone watching a screen . It also management technologies and circadian rhythm
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JANUARY 2022 | International Mining 65