Technological discoveries have proven to be invaluable in making everyday life easy. For the mining industry, technology has played a crucial role in improving productivity and efficiency. More importantly it has also increased the chances of achieving zero harm.  

Despite the industry’s best efforts of ensuring the safety of all employees, health and safety related incidents are inevitable due to the dangerous nature of mining. As such, the industry needs all the help it can get to improve on health and safety. Technology is one of the resources utelised by the industry to drive health and safety.

 “It is very important to ensure the health and safety of our employees, and this can only be achieved by removing human intervention from the processes through automation,” says Andre Kleynhans, ROSOND safety manager. He further adds that technology eliminates accidents previously associated with manual material handling of machinery and equipment.

In terms of the practical application of technology by ROSOND, Kleynhans lists the following examples:

eliminating hand and finger injuries

Operating drill rigs in a safe zone, removing employees from danger zones

Operating in an area where noise, vibration, ambient temperature and dust are controlled to eliminate impact on health

“Over the past two years, South Africa has been more open minded in incorporating technology into the HSE industry, and specifically the mining industry. Covid-19 has pushed us to move even faster in this regard,” says Ruan Janse Van Rensburg, Coastal Regional Manager for KBC Health and Safety.

Another major area of concern when it comes to risk in the mining industry relates to Trackless Mobile Machinery (TMMs). There have been many incidents where accidents have occurred involving pedestrians and TMMs in both open pit and underground mines. “We now have proximity detection systems. The devices are worn by individuals, and they are also installed in the miners cap lamp. They help us identify if individuals are getting too close to moving equipment that could potentially harm them,” says Matjila. If individuals get too close, the equipment will automatically turn off. “That is where technology has come in as a big benefit in helping us eliminate accidents that are related to machine, people interaction.”

Technology has proven to be a driving force to achieve zero harm in the mining industry. Despite some challenges, the industry has embraced technology and reaped the rewards. “It is going to be a no brainer that technology will be the way forward because of the health and safety advantages it brings to the workplace,” concludes Kleynhans.