Using Globally Proven Technology for your Employees Control of SAFE Work across the entire Mining Operation

Often, when talking about technologies for safer and smarter mining operations, we think of autonomous vehicles, unmanned diggers, collision awareness censors, nitrogen-filled tyres to reduce the risk of fire, rigs, hard hats and safety boots, maybe even virtual glasses used for artisanal training in remote or isolated areas, ropes and harnesses, etc.

But what if we consider something as seemingly insignificant, even bothersome as Work Permits?

Understanding that the amount of paperwork involved in issuing of, signing off, inspection of and filing of permits is to most artisans, contractors, miners a huge ‘time-wasting’ headache, how about a solution that minimizes the pain, and maximises safety?

It’s all very well having machines with situational awareness, but what about human beings?

Being aware  - not only about your own safety, but also about those around you is crucial for everyone’s safety. What if you’re working at height, you’re unaware someone else is working beneath you, and you drop a hammer on their head? What if you didn’t even know they were there, because your job card or work permit did not alert you to the fact the YOU could be hazardous to somebody else?

Despite all the technology at our disposal, in terms of gadgets, human beings are fallible. We make mistakes. The only way to minimize the risk of human error, is to ensure a greater awareness. Awareness of the risks our jobs entail, of the environments we’re working in – is there gas, ice or water around? Awareness of isolations that could hinder our progress, or the effect our work has on an isolation’s timeline; and also, awareness of other artisans working around us.

Paper-based work permits are simply not providing enough detail or all the elements we should be aware of. There are just too many variables and different people signing them off to have a complete view of all the risks. Not to mention the time wasted in waiting for permits to be signed off before work can commence!

We do however have Electronic Permits-to-Work that afford us and 360-degree, three dimensional view of exactly who is working around us, what kind of work is taking place, area lockouts with time stamps, dependencies of work that needs to be completed prior to yours commencing, competency levels of artisans, as well as the state of maintenance of the equipment you will be working on.

With all of this information available to us at all times, our situational awareness is hugely enhanced. Allowing for the fact that mining is a hazardous environment, this will greatly minimize risk to people, helping us get ever closer to the ideal of ‘Zero Harm’.

Electronic permits-to-Work have been used globally with enormous success for the past 20 years. The benefits for employees include a greater degree of confidence that they will return home, and deeper trust in their peers. Supervisors are spending their time actually attending to tasks at hand, instead of wasting time looking for documents to sign. Mining companies are comforted in the knowledge they are doing more to ensure safer working environments, and also seeing increased profits due to massive reduction in contractor wait-times, and communities are benefiting too, seeing as families and communities are reliant on the income from the miners and artisans involved with the running of the mines. They can rest assured there’s a probable likelihood their loved ones will return home!

This has been proven in many sites globally, including Sibanye Stillwater, Anglo American, Glencore, South 32, BHP Global, Newmont, Tronox, Amplats, Rio Tinto, Newcrest and Kumba Iron Ore, to name a few.

Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings