Patrick Tyrrell – Australian Coal Industry Research Program
ABSTRACT
ACARP assists the Australian coal industry to develop and adopt technology and mining practice that leads the world. The program is entirely funded, owned and managed by the Australian black coal producers.
ACARP was established in January 1992 and has had many great achievements that improves the safety and health of our people throughout its many years. What sets ACARP apart from other areas of research is the industry monitors that have direct input to the research that is been undertaken through a collaborative approach that utilises the experience and technical strength of both the coal mining industry and research institutions in solving technical problems and addressing issues of significance to the industry’s long-term future. Any proposed research project that is strongly supported by a mine site and is of interest to a number of coal operations is encouraged. Safety and environment remain key drivers in the program and will continue to be the focus of much of the underground work and a significant component of the open cut and coal preparation programs.
Priorities have been developed by the five technical committees responsible for proposal development and selection and are separated into the areas of:
• Underground
• Open Cut
• Coal Preparation
• Technical Market Support
• Mine Site Greenhouse Mitigation
While the current priorities are not prescriptive they should act as a guide.
The Current Priorities are: Underground:
• Prevent Harm from Spontaneous Combustion, Ignitions, Mine Fires, Extreme Heat, Explosions, Outbursts, Coal Bursts, Ventilation and Strata Failures – Improved understanding, detection, prediction, protection, selection and design of major hazard management systems.
• Management of Health – including mental health and fatigue.
• Communication to Employees and Contractors of Safety Measures – Improvement such that the information, training and instruction is understood and retained.
• Operator Interfaces and Vehicle Interaction – Improving equipment, automation and remote monitoring and control, also addressing musculoskeletal disorders, improved ergonomics and
• Improved roadway conditions.
• Airborne and Noise Contaminants – Reduce exposure to airborne dust, diesel emissions, and noise.
• Emergency Response Measures – Adequacy and effectiveness.
• Investigation of key practices, including legislative, leading practice alternatives and culture.
Open Cut: The industry is looking for direct or indirect improvements in health and safety across all mining and exploration operations. Areas of interest for open cut mining are:
• Investigation of key health and safety issues and management systems, practices and culture, including legislative leading practice alternatives.
• Management of health including mental health, alcohol and other drugs, return to work and fatigue, e.g. by reduced exposure to noise, vibration, dust and heat, by determining mental health of employees, etc.
• Protection and removal of personnel from hazardous situations such as those around unstable ground, in the vicinity of voids, and around excavations particularly during truck loading.
• General improvement to the health and safety of mining and maintenance operations through novel manual
• Handling aids, including automated technologies or equipment changes.
• Improving equipment operator interfaces, vehicle interaction management, automation and remote control.
• Development of safety in the design of systems and equipment that leads to the reduction of occupational exposure at the source, e.g. noise, dust, blast fumes etc.
• Improve the communication to employees and contractors of safety measures such that the information,
• Training and instruction are provided in a method that allows cognitive retention.
• Development of a cognitive recognition method which addresses the normalising effects that are created due to the human brain predominantly operating in a subconscious mode and failing to recognise changes in their environment that could lead to adverse outcomes.
ACARP facilitates industry and researchers to work together for a common goal that is the improvement of the health and safety of our industry and our people, this is a journey that we all share together.
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Keith Haley – General Manager, Saraji Mine, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance
ABSTRACT
Are some people born to take more risk and others born to play it safe? Does a race car driver have a different genetic makeup from a librarian? Do miners in general have a different brain and risk tolerance from the population as a whole?
Induction into the mining industry requires companies teach workers about Risk. In fact, the entire act is devoted to understanding and managing risk, “Shall not expose coal mine workers to an unacceptable level of risk.” Typically, teaching risk assessment during induction is a very academic exercise. Risk assessment training is presented from the textbook perspective and explains probability and consequence of an event. The general population does not understand the academic side of risk assessment and they do not use “safety terms” to talk about risk. Companies use induction training to start teaching the safety hierarchy of controls to mitigate risk. These are great concepts, but for most workers they are new words and terms. This education is important; it gives the industry a common language and allows us all to communicate and understand risk better.
This presentation is the precursor to the intellectual process described above. This presentation helps others understand what needs to be unlearned. When teaching co-workers about risk, understanding what they already know is critical. Induction training should consider helping people unlearn what they think is innate. This presentation will demonstrate one perspective on where risk acceptance develops, how deeply entrenched risk tolerance is in each of us, and where and why risk-taking habits form.
Greg Glennon – Operations Manager, Otraco International Pty Ltd
ABSTRACT
Tyres are pressure vessels, potentially containing several hundred tonnes of force, and they are continuously exposed to operational damage. The risk of a fatality during a tyre maintenance activity on an Australian mine site is in the order of ten times higher than that for a non-tyre related vehicle maintenance event.
In 2015/2016, Otraco International performed an extensive review of tyre maintenance related fatalities and life threatening injuries in the mining industry worldwide, their causes and the controls that need to be implemented to eliminate them. The review was used as the foundation for the Otraco Critical Control Program (CCP), an integral part of our Risk Management process and has since been implemented across our Australian and international projects. Our CCP is supported by tyre related bowtie risk reviews which assisted with the identification of critical controls and mapped the level of interface with other operational and safety programs to build resilience.
Otraco has learned that there is no “silver bullet’ for managing critical risks, they require total integration of safety, quality and operational roles, empowering workers to be part of the solution. Through ‘ground up’ solutions development supported, promoted and made visible by all levels of management, our controls that are seen as practical and are applied every day.
Dr Gareth Kennedy – Director, Mine Safety Technology Research Centre, Simtars
ABSTRACT
Simtars commenced operation in 1986, with purpose-built analytical and research facilities commissioned at Redbank in 1988. The Queensland Government established Simtars following the tragedies of Box Flat Colliery and Kianga No 1 Colliery explosions, which occurred in the 1970’s. Over the last 30 years Simtars has made significant contributions to industry.
Simtars has recently launched its new five year research strategy to help improve safety and health outcomes for Queensland’s future mining industry. The research strategy focuses on four key areas including health, safety, emergency response and emergency preparedness.
Through consultation with industry, this sets a framework for a more consolidated approach to research. Key areas will initially focus around respirable dust, human-machine interactions, emergency preparedness, spontaneous combustion and explosion characterisation and survivability.
This paper will present a summary of Simtars’ research journey over the last 30 years, an overview of current research projects, and finally discuss the plans for the future.
Dr Snezana Bajic – Technical Services Manager, Simtars
ABSTRACT
There have been many mine disasters in the last century, globally. The common issues faced by mine rescue teams is re-entering the mine to rescue or recover. This paper will focus on actions and risks associated to decisions made during a past major mine disaster in south Serbia, in a small mining community in Aleksinac.
The mine was opened by Djordje Dimitrijevic and Johan Apel on 28th May 1883, for coal to supply Aleksinac Brewery. The first accident occurred in 1924, where 10 miners died. The second accident was in 1983, where 34 lives were lost. The entire north sector morning shift of 90 coal miners were lost at 11:59am on Friday 17th November 1989. The cause of this disaster can be attributed to a negligence and a fire which ignited coal dust in the “Morava” shaft panel number 445, 700m below the surface. The rescue teams risked their lives to recover the bodies of the victims to the surface in 25 days. They entered with minimal knowledge of the underground atmosphere and conditions.
The disaster influenced the decision to close the mine in 1990 despite the 27 million tonnes available coal reserves. On this pleasant and sunny day, 90 families lost their beloved and 132 kids were left without fathers. “We, miners, have a nice greeting “Srećno” (Good luck), and yet we have no luck” stated the late deputy Vukoje Marković, just few days before he lost his life in this terrible mine disaster.
Martin Watkinson – Executive Mining Engineer, Simtars
ABSTRACT
The 2018 Level 1 Mine Emergency exercise held at Grosvenor mine in July 2018 is the 21st Level 1 exercise held in Queensland. This paper and presentation will provide preliminary feedback to industry on the learnings and recommendations from review of the assessor inputs.
The scenario will be explained along with the elements of emergency response that were evaluated. Some video footage will also be utilised to emphasise the learning points. Reference will also be made to the current evaluation of Level 1exercise recommendations being undertaken by the Task Group 4 evaluation team as part of the process for preparing a recognised standard on emergency response.
Cristian Sylvestre – Managing Director, HabitSafe
ABSTRACT
Most organisations think of personal safety in terms of hazards, knowledge or conscious decisions. Although these have merit, and may be part of an overall solution, they are not enough to prevent all incidents in mining. So, what is missing?
Neuroscience estimates that 95% of what we do is subconscious. That is, the majority of our actions are mostly done while on autopilot, and not just low risk ones. We are aware of what we are doing, but we are not making “active” conscious decisions from step to step. This is not because of psychology; it is because of the brain chemistry in humans that resulted from evolution.
Although being in autopilot serves us well most of the time, it can also result in unintentional incidents. The solution is not to do away with autopilot (as if we could), but to use behaviour-change science to help people be safer.
Drawing on the latest research, this presentation explores the role played by inattention and distraction while being on autopilot. If people can understand (without blame or fault) how unintentional incidents come about, and how these can be minimised, they engage more fully, comply more and make “safer” conscious decisions. This enables people to contribute with more purpose to a positive safety culture, thereby improving safety performance significantly.
Safety performance data collected from 7 Australian coal mine operations (open cut and underground) show an average of 60% reduction in TRIFR within 2 years.
Andrew Russell – Managing Director, Actrua
ABSTRACT
Actrua
The Safety Leader of the future will be different to the Safety Leader of today. How different? We predict the role will be vastly different.
The term VUCA that was created by the US Military is used to describe a workplace that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This is the work environment that many Safety Leaders face today. But are they adequately prepared to deal with it? No!
Globalisation and digitisation are just two factors creating significant impacts on a changing workplace. We are already witnessing widespread mental health issues due to the changes we face, not only at work, but in the home and community also.
In this presentation we will discuss strategies to nurture and develop our Safety Leaders of the future. Not only for their own personal wellbeing, but for the health and safety of the organisations that they lead.
We will discuss the 70 – 20 – 10 principle of learning and development, share successful case studies and explore the contribution of formal learning, coaching, mentoring and perhaps most importantly, the influence of role models.
Kellen Timboe – Account Manager, Caterpillar Solutions, Caterpillar of Australia
Adam Austin – Health and Safety Manager, HSE Mining
ABSTRACT
Getting buy-in to big safety change at every level of the organisation, from the leadership team to the operator crews, is an essential component of any culture-change process. This presentation will offer hands-on insights into how HSE Mining applied culture change methodologies to engage their employees in the rollout of the latest fatigue risk management technology.
Further we will discuss how the solution helped HSE in achieving immediate and dramatic safety performance outcomes. Caterpillar Solutions will discuss how the latest safety technologies can bring you even closer to your Zero Harm goals when implemented with your employees at the core. You can’t predict how your individual employees will react to a new organizational wide safety technology initiative but, you can plan to help them through the process.
Belinda Martin – SSE, Sibelco Australia Pty Ltd
ABSTRACT
The fact is that most mines do not close when their mineral resources are exhausted but close prematurely due to a range of reasons including geotechnical, economic, regulatory and other pressures. Mining companies can develop and implement a mine closure plan that will highlight risks and set out a work breakdown structure to get from point A to point B, but keeping your employees focused on safety, motivated and retained brings many challenges. Strong leadership, a simple safety management system, ‘value add’ processes and ensuring employees have access to the right tools and equipment are extremely important but it is the workforce culture that drive safety and business outcomes. This paper will outline the challenges an impending 2019 mine closure brings and will explain the impacts on the workforce and the steps my team and I are taking to keep our workers safe up until the day we raise the ladder for the final time.
Harold Downes – Partner
Kara Reynolds – Senior Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills
ABSTRACT
How to Share Opportunities Together when crossing the border between ‘onsite activities’ and ‘offsite activities’ to achieve a better safety outcome. How to consult, cooperate and coordinate effectively for a better safety outcome through the use of contractors who work under both the CMSH Act and WHS act, such as plant repair workshops located in Mackay or plant designers located in Europe.