PROMOTING SAFETY IN THE MINING INDUSTRY

PROMOTING SAFETY IN THE MINING INDUSTRY
Every day millions of people travel for work in the mining industry, unfortunately, some people don’t go back to their families and their loved ones because of fatal accidents and injuries that happen in the mining industry both at surface and underground that involves collisions in the vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to human incidents.
There are many factors that contribute to incidents in the mining industry like:
•Faulty vehicles
•Driving into an object (distraction)
•Fatigue
•Poor proximity of systems put in place
•Poor visibility at surface and underground
Incidents or fatalities like these can cause delays in mining and result in routine shutdowns for investigations by the government, protests by union members pushing management to improve safety for employees in mining whilst it compromises productivity.
The mining sector recorded 51 fatalities in 2019. The lowest ever recorded in the History of South Africa’s mining industry. “This represents a 37% improvement year on year compared to 2018 fatalities,” said Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe at a media briefing on the release of the 2019 mine health and safety statistics on Friday (date?). Occupational injuries were recorded at 2406; reported in 2019. This compares to 2447 occupational injuries reported during 2018, translating to a 2% decrease. Most of these injuries are mainly a result of repeated accidents categorized as a fall of ground transportation.
Even though, statistically, the number of accidents in mining have reduced over the years, there is still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to ensure the safety of mine workers. One of the ways in which this can be done is through the implementation of safety initiatives. Inclusive of this is; having scheduled vehicle maintenance, improving driver behaviour through training/coaching that encourages safe driving habits, taking the necessary safety precautions to achieve a level 9 compliance status.
IMPLEMENTING INDUSTRY STANDARDS
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy requires all mines to install proximity detection technologies in alignment with level 9 compliance. PAISA’s Proximity Warning System offers level 9 compliance status and helps mitigate collisions between vehicles and vehicles to pedestrians. Such technologies need to be developed and upgraded from time to time to meet the standards and requirements of the mining industry. Our Proximity Warning system can; detect objects in real-time, calculate distance accurately and offer real-time GPS tracking, collision avoidance, speed tracking, vehicle to vehicle detection, vehicle to pedestrian detection, clear night vision and CanBus integration. Not only will it help mitigate the number of incidents, but you’ll also be saving money on maintenance and increasing productivity and revenue, while enhancing the safety measures in mining and construction. Putting safety first using Proximity Warning System, now that’s a real game-changer in the mining and construction industries.
Sources:
https://www.sanews/south-africa/mining-sector-records-51-fatalities