EQUIPMENT SAFETY CHALLENGES IN THE

NOTHERN CAPE MINES 2015

MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY INSPECTORATE

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Key factors • Legal appointments.• Formal Training.• Conveyor Belt Safety.• Development and Implementation of COP’s.• Risk Management.• TMM• Use of Hand Tools.• Occupational Hygiene Measurements and

Surveys.

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Legal AppointmentsThe delegation of functions and responsibilities are done in a letter of appointment. Key elements that should be included in a letter of appointment in terms of the MHSA, are as follows: •The name and designation of the person making the appointment.•The name of the person being appointed and his or her designation. •The area of responsibility of the appointee must be clearly identifiable.•The duties (i.e. scope of authority) of the appointee should be clearly stipulated.•The name of or a designation of a person who the appointee must report to should be indicated..

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Cont.……

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• The period of validity of the letter of appointment i.e. date of commencement and date of termination should be indicated

• The person making the appointment must have the necessary authority to make the appointment;

• The person making the appointment must be confident that the person so appointed is competent for the specific functions and duties that are expected of that specific appointee in terms of the MHSA.

• The person making the appointment must ensure that the appointee is not burdened with such an excessive amount of duties that the appointee cannot perform all the duties and responsibilities so assigned to him or her.

• The appointee must be made fully aware of his or her responsibilities (i.e. scope of authority) and what his or her legal liability will entail in case on non-compliance.

Key appointments• 2A(1) CEO• 2.13.1/2Mechanical/Electrical Engineer• 4.(1)Employer Representative• 3.(1)(a) Mine Manager• 12.(1) Occupational Hygiene Practitioner• 13.3(a) Occupational Medicine PractitionerAll employers must submit the above

appointment letters to the P.I.O.M no later than 19 January 2016.

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Formal Training• The training is structured and risk based.• Conducted by a Competent Trainer or Accredited

Service provider and records kept on site.•Service Level Agreement drawn up by the employer.•Services recruited as identified in the Training Needs

Analysis• Policies and procedures to be provided• Site Specific material• Approved by the employer and Engineer or Competent

person.

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Employee Training• Most mines have not developed a risk based training

module for all equipment on site. Most employers provide in-house training for employees. In most cases there are no training modules developed for this training, and in some cases the training is provided by an external service provider. The training from these providers is in some cases not approved by the relevant competent person at the mine, these service providers do not give the employer the records of the theoretical assessments of employees and therefore the employer does not have these records readily available for scrutiny on request.

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TMM

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ROP’s and FOP’s•In most mines there are no standards in place for ROP’s and FOP’s. LDV’s are not fitted with ROP’s and FOP’s even though the risks at the mine necessitate the fitment of these safety devices.

Road Traffic management

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• Most mines have not effectively developed a Road traffic management taking into consideration the road design, traffic networking, road signs, inclines and declines, operator training etc.

CONT…

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• Improving roads and roadsides to reduce the risk of crashes and minimise harm: measures for high speed roads include dividing traffic, and providing clear driver guidance. In areas with large numbers of vulnerable road users or where there is substantial collision risk, speed management supplemented by road and roadside treatments is a key strategy for limiting crashes.

CONT….

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• Advising, educating and encouraging road users to obey road rules and to be unimpaired, alert and responsive to potentially high-risk situations.

• Consideration should be given to the interaction of heavy and light vehicles on haul roads. Where possible, roads should be provided for light vehicles to create separation; interaction between vehicle classes can lead to an increased likelihood of incidents.

Tyre Management

• Most mines do not have an effective risk assessment in place for tyre care and maintenance. The OEM’s risk assessment for the care and maintenance of tyre is not considered during the development and implementation of the tyre management programme. Some mines are not checking the TMM rims for cracks and checking for hot and cold tyre pressures pre-shift.

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CONVEYOR SAFETY …

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Minimum Safety Devices Emergency Trip Wires•Installed along the entire length of the belt on the travelling way side and on both sides if persons are likely to travel or work on both sides of the conveyor.•Safety Guards•The guards must cover all moving parts and nip points.•The guards are to be manufactured in accordance with the guidelines as issued by the CIOM and must also include the installation of nip point guards.

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Cont.……..• Locking-out Devices• Locking-out devices fitted with an

attachment for padlocks are to be in- stalled on the following:

• The motor starts buttons.• The trip wire switches.• Motor control center panels.

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Cont.…… Start-up Warning•An audible alarm is to be provided which will warn persons that the belt is about to start up. •This alarm must automatically sound along the full length of the belt when • The motor start button is pressed and the alarm must sound for at least 10 seconds minimum before the belt moves.

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Cont.….. Sequence interlocking•Where two or more belt conveyor systems are used in series, sequence interlocking must be provided which automatically will: •-Stop all conveyors feeding a conveyor that has stopped. •-The interlocking may be arranged such that where a belt is fed from a bin, the belt feeding the bin could be stopped on the bin level.•-Prevent a conveyor starting until the conveyor onto which it feeds is moving.

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Cont.….Illumination•-The entire length of the belt must be well illuminated at night, especially areas • where persons are to work around the pulleys and drives•Illumination surveys must be conducted by the appointed Hygienist.

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OEM involvement in establishing systems• The employers do not consult with all OEM for

the use and maintenance of the equipment on site. As a result the employers cannot provide adequate training to employees and formulate effective training modules. It has been observed that some manufactures are not supplying all relevant information on request by the employers and therefore not adhering to Section 21 of the Mine Health and Safety Act.

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• It has been observed that some employers are allowing privately owned vehicles to enter the mining operations even though these vehicles are not compliant with the TMM COP.

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Private vehicles entering mining sight

Risk Management• THE BASICS• Define System: the components and their interactions • Define Risk Scenarios: what can go wrong; how can it happen; what

controls are in place? – Estimate Consequences: who could get hurt; what facilities could get

damaged; what are the implications? – Estimate Probability: objectively from data or subjectively from

deliberations, • Undertake Risk Assessment: "Pair" probabilities and consequences,

compare them to risk tolerability/acceptability criteria in order to enable rational decision making on risk mitigation

• Implement Risk Mitigation Measures: fix things; change systems; be prepared.

• Formulate a risk matrix.• Monitor the effectiveness of controls and continuously review the risks and

controls.

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THANK YOU

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