COLLISION AWARENESS & AVOIDANCE
South Africa’s Mine Health and Safety Act Chapter 8 states in sections
8.10.1 and 8.10.2 the following on regulation relating to collisions
between trackless mobile machines and pedestrians & collisions between
diesel powered trackless mobile machines
8.1 0.1 The employer must take reasonably practicable measures to ensure thatpedestrian are
prevented from being injured as a result of collisions between trackless mobile machines and
pedestrian. At any mine where there is a significant risk of such collisions, such measures must
include at least the following:
8.1 0.1.1 All electrically or battery powered trackless mobile machines, excluding shovels, bucket
wheel excavators and overburden drills. must be provided with means to automatically detect
the presence of any pedestrian within its vicinity. Upon detecting the presence of a pedestrian,
the operator of the trackless mobile machine and the pedestrian must be warned of each other's
presence by means of an effective warning. In the event where no action is taken to prevent
potential collision, further means must be provided to retard the trackless mobile machine to a
safe speed where after the brakes of the trackless mobile machine are automatically applied
without human intervention.
8.1 0.1.2 All underground diesel powered trackless mobile machines must beprovided with
means:
8.1 0.1.2(a) to automatically detect the presence of any pedestrian within its vicinity. Upon
detecting the presence of a pedestrian, the operator of the diesel powered trackless mobile
machine and the pedestrian shall be warned of each other's presence by means of an effective
warning; and
8.1 0.1.2(b) in the event where no action is taken to prevent potential collision, further means
shall be provided to retard the diesel powered trackless mobile machine to a safe speed where
after the brakes of the diesel powered trackless mobile machine are automatically applied. The
prevent potential collision system on the diesel powered trackless mobile machine must fail
to safe without human intervention.
8.10.2 The employer must take reasonably practicable measures to ensure that persons are
prevented from being injured as a result of collisions between diesel powered trackless mobile
machines. At any opencast or open pit mine where there is a significant risk of such collisions,
such measures must include:
8.10.2.1 Every diesel powered trackless mobile machine must be provided with means to
automatically detect the presence of any other diesel powered trackless mobile machine within
its vicinity; and
8.1 0.2.1 (a) upon detecting the presence of another diesel powered trackless mobile machine,
the operators of both diesel powered trackless mobile machines shall be warned of each other's
presence by means of an effective warning; and
8.1 0.2.1 (b) in the event where no action is taken to prevent potential collision, further means
shall be provided to retard the diesel powered trackless mobile machine to a safe speed where
after the brakes of the diesel powered trackless mobile machine are automatically applied. The
prevent potential collision system on the diesel powered trackless mobile machine must "fail to
safe" without human intervention.
detected after the operator has failed to respond
to the earlier Level 7 proximity alerts and Level 8
advisory controls.”
“It is recognised by Wabtec and the mining
industry that CAS alone should not be viewed as
a ‘silver bullet’ for mitigating the risk of vehicle
interactions, as the initial focus should be on
maximising the maturity of the more effective
mine site defensive controls at Levels 1 – 6 and
supplemented by PDS/CAS Levels 7 – 9 where
required. This approach has also been adopted
through a new initiative by the International
Council on Mining & Minerals (ICMM) as part of
the program for ‘Innovation for Cleaner Safer
Vehicles’, where the mining industry globally has
an ambition at the CEO level to eliminate all
fatalities from vehicle interactions in mining by
2025.”
The Minerals Council of South Africa is
currently coordinating the development and
testing of all the CAS suppliers by providing a
best practice framework with the aim of fast
tracking the industry developments. This work is
also being integrated into a new EMESRT
initiative to develop a unified, integrated industry
PDS testing methodology and validation
framework.
The first milestone for the CAS supplier is to
conduct independent lab scale testing done by
the University of Pretoria (UoP) at the Gerotek
testing facility, in South Africa (again detailed
elsewhere in this report).
“The second milestone, which the Wabtec
Digital Mine Collision Awareness System team
conducted on an independent machine OEM site,
is single and multiple machine testing. These
tests were successfully performed, as real-world
scenarios were created and tested against. These
tests were conducted in dry and wet conditions
and to speeds up to 40 km/h. The third key
milestone that the Wabtec team is currently
working towards is to conduct single and
multiple machine testing on a production mine
site. The range of machines being tested include
rigid body haul trucks, articulated dump trucks
and a rubber-tyred wheel loader, which represent
the typical high risk TMM found working on a
mine site. In order to address the significant
challenges in achieving a level 9 – compliant CAS
system, Wabtec Digital Mine has developed
proprietary software algorithms that are able to
interpret and anticipate the complex scenarios
presented during normal mining operations. This
enables the Wabtec systems to operate
seamlessly with the operator.”
“If Wabtec’s experience has shown anything,
it’s that proximity detection and collision
awareness technology makes for not only a safer,
but a more productive mine, thanks to the wealth
of data the systems are able to gather, analyse
and feed back to the mine operators we support.
We remain committed to delivering a world class,
Level 9 CAS system to the global mining
community.”
Booyco on its progress in SA
With mine safety legislation getting progressively
tighter, Booyco Electronics continues to ensure
compliance with its proudly South African
proximity detection system (PDS). According to
Pieter Janse van Rensburg, Booyco Electronics
Area Manager for Mpumalanga, the legislation
coming into force in 2020 will mean the extended
application of Level 9 safety standards. As
stated, this level requires ‘full intervention’ from
a PDS on trackless mining machines (TMMs) to
avoid man and machine related incidents.
JANUARY 2020 | International Mining