MINE RESCUE & SAFETY
STRACON Tech ’ s ST – TRACK platform , an integration of GIS , offers real-time personnel tracking , zone management , unauthorised entry alerts , adjustable TAG sampling rates for critical areas , low battery notifications and provides historical data for audit purposes within mining operations .
The successful deployment and level of customer satisfaction led to an expansion of the project . Within just six months of the initial deployment , the mine ordered an additional 450 Smart Badges , bringing the total number of deployed badges to over 800 . This expansion demonstrates Mina Justa ’ s confidence in the effectiveness and reliability of the solution provided by STRACON Tech , the company says .
Advancing safety culture
With safety no longer being a box-ticking exercise but a true measure of employee engagement , Caterpillar Safety Services says it helps build a strong culture where safety practices are embedded across an organisation . To aid this , the company has launched two updates to its programs contributing to resilient safety cultures .
The updated Safety Perception Survey and a program focused on human and organisational performance that have recently been announced leverage Caterpillar Safety Services ’ 50 years of operation , along with the latest research and approaches to address safety excellence within organisations .
Today , Caterpillar Safety Services says it assists companies with improving the four components of a resilient safety culture , where safety is approached proactively and all team members take ownership of safety . This expands to programs featuring equipment from all OEMs – not just Caterpillar . The components include : 1 . System – clearly defined safety expectations embedded in policies and procedures to identify and mitigate risk ;
2 . Mindset – a shared mindset that safety is everyone ’ s responsibility , people make mistakes and an environment of openness that makes people feel safe to speak up ;
3 . Leadership – specific , consistent leadership behaviours at all levels of the organisation that positively influence people toward safe work ; and
4 . Ownership – occurs when all levels fully engage in the creation and continuous improvement of the safety system .
Trinnie Cortez , Industry Consultant , Caterpillar Safety Services , said the latest updates reflected ongoing trends in the industry relevant to safety people and operators on the front line in mining .
“ We , at Caterpillar Safety Services , are close to our customers and , with these updates , are recognising not only feedback from the field but also from our technicians working with equipment on a daily basis ,” he told IM on the sidelines of the SME MineXchange Conference and Expo , in Phoenix , Arizona , earlier this year . “ The updated Safety Perception Survey , for instance , is a product of continuously communicating with safety steering teams and the facilitation of working groups . We continue to evolve our offering in line with what the market tells us .”
The Caterpillar Safety Services Safety Perception Survey analyses an organisation ’ s safety culture . Building on 35 years of research and study , the new survey updates language and modern concepts of safety culture excellence , adding questions related to psychological safety and human and organisational performance .
The new survey ’ s reports are streamlined with modern visualisation of the data . They measure five safety activities – hazard identification , event learning , inspections , near miss and safety meetings – and address 11 cultural indicators , including caring climate , employee involvement , feedback , management credibility , training effectiveness and risk reduction . Importantly , they also show how safety is perceived differently among employees , supervisors and managers .
Human and organisational performance is a framework concept for talking about safety and creating a resilient safety culture , Caterpillar Safety Services explains . It is a mindset that allows organisations to build more error-tolerant systems by teaching leaders that expecting perfection from workers , processes , or procedures is not realistic .
Caterpillar Safety Services says traditional methods of managing safety systems centre around designing policies , standard work and processes assuming work happens in a straight line . Management sets the expectations , tells workers what to do and the workers do it the same way , every day .
“ This method , however , does not account for
The Caterpillar Safety Services Safety Perception Survey builds on 35 years of research and study to help analyse an organisation ’ s safety culture
organisational factors that can disrupt the system , such as employees not having the right tools for the job and adapting or making tradeoffs because they are still required to meet production targets ,” it said . “ Nor does it account for the individual factors that impact a worker ’ s awareness , or lapses in attention due to events in his or her personal life , such as a family emergency .”
When workers deviate from the safety plan or make mistakes under the traditional model , they may be scrutinised or punished to attempt to improve safety , but this can have the opposite effect and lead to a weaker safety culture .
Using human and organisational performance principles , Caterpillar Safety Services applies a new understanding of human behaviour to safety , it says . Leaders create an environment where employees feel empowered to speak up to share their ideas , struggles and mistakes . The organisation learns to improve its safety system continuously .
“ With this framework concept , we are recognising what real leadership is within a safety context ,” Cortez said . “ Building and promoting such leadership is key to getting the whole workforce engaged with programs for continuous safety improvements .”
This results in a more engaged and proactive safety culture with improvements in morale , retention , efficiency and profitability , according to Caterpillar Safety Services .
Caterpillar Safety Services assists organisations with implementation of human and organisational performance principles through its Leadership Development and Coaching program .
“ Tailored to the specific needs and objectives of the individual leaders , the program includes a mix of workshops , assessments and individual face-to-face sessions ,” Caterpillar Safety Services
48 International Mining | OCTOBER 2024