BUSINESS
STOPPING DEATHS ON QUARRIES
Proximity detection system ( PDS ) is the culmination of years of efforts to reduce fatalities on quarry and mine sites .
By Eamonn Ryan
So far , South Africa is the only country in the world to have legislated a level 9 collision management system . It is a stateof-the-art system which is at draft phase to become law for all surface mines and quarries from end-2020 .
Ettiene Pretorius , Electronic Safety Systems ( ESS ) business unit manager at Schauenburg Systems , says the move is a response to the many fatalities that have steadily increased over the past few years . There has been little improvement regarding the safety record of mobile equipment . The Department of Mineral Resources ( DMR ) gave an ultimatum to the industry to reduce fatalities using humanbased risk mitigation tools ( levels 1 to 6 ) or it would raise the bar using regulations . “ Levels 1 to 6 involve non-technology measures such as traffic lights , segregating people and vehicles , and more . But risk assessments on sites have shown that there are still scenarios involving an unacceptable level of risk , and so technological solutions at levels 7 to 9 became necessary .”
Under the Mine Health and Safety Act , regulation 8.10 , level 7 was introduced . This is a warning system that unfortunately has also failed to reduce the fatality level and consequently , the government has set about imposing compulsory level 9 safety measures from 2020 .
Pretorius explains why level 7 on its own is insufficient : the warning system involved alarms to compel drivers to stop when there was a significant risk , but due to a number of false alarms and / or no consequences , this led drivers and pedestrians to ignore alarms and fatalities continued — in fact , after an initial reduction in fatalities , it again increased last year .
Eamonn Ryan
Ettiene Pretorius , ESS business unit manager at Schauenburg Systems .
“ The final specifications of the level 9 system have not been signed off yet , but a deadline has been set for the introduction of level 9 by no later than the end of 2020 , for all underground and surface mining . What level 9 PDS introduces to the system is a signal to a control system or vehicle OEM to slow down or stop the vehicle in proximity to danger ,” says Pretorius . There are currently as many as 30 suppliers on the market selling level 7 systems , many of which are newcomers to the PDS market . Many of these offer limited support or R & D and therefore have no intention of ever becoming level 9 compliant . Pretorius warns buyers of PDS systems to not simply look at the cheapest solutions , but to consider how they will be supported to comply with future regulations ; that is , level 9 .
He says this is arguably the case with quarries even more so than mines . “ Quarries are low-margin operations that have the same standards of regulation as higher-margin mines , which makes acquiring these solutions more challenging .”
A caution when buying
He urges anyone buying a system at the moment to make sure to get a guarantee from their supplier to say the system is capable of being upgraded to level 9 compliance by the cut-off date and that they are committed to doing so — or offer a refund . “ Otherwise , they will have to pay for a new system , effectively paying twice . They will have to dispose of their current system .”
Few suppliers are yet compliant . Pretorius says that about five suppliers have a system compliant for underground mining , but currently only one company is compliant for surface mining . “ Seven or eight companies ( including Schauenburg ) are presently developing a level 9 system , and the industry is working to a roadmap under the authority of the Minerals Council South Africa , which
10 _ QUARRY SA | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018