safety on mines
51
06.13
A
SX-listed Tiger Resources reports it has re-
corded 2 million man-hours of operations
with a zero lost time injury frequency rate
(LTIFR) at its Kipoi copper project in Katanga in the
DRC.
Managing Director Brad Marwood said the mile-
stone was a significant achievement in comparison
with incident rates observed elsewhere in the mining
industry and was testament to the company’s focus
on quality practices and a corporate culture that aims
to ensure the highest level of safety in its daily opera-
tions.
“As a result of the safety practices in place we have
not experienced a single injury in 2 million man-
hours that has prevented an employee from returning
to work the next day,” he said. “Our goal is to meet
production targets while keeping our people safe
with zero injuries and zero illnesses and protecting
the environment with zero environmental incidents.
“It is important to recognise that all of our employ-
ees have contributed to our success in achieving our
safety goals by embracing the health and safety prac-
tices at Kipoi. Our General Manager, Denis Baillar-
geon, and his operating team are to be congratulated
for this achievement.”
C
aterpillar Global Mining has entered into an
alliance agreement with Seeing Machines
Limited to deliver and support operator fa-
tigue monitoring technology through Cat
®
Dealers.
Seeing Machines, headquartered in Canberra, Aus-
tralia, has developed fatigue monitoring systems us-
ing patented eye and head tracking technology to de-
tect operator fatigue and distraction and to alert the
mine controller and the machine operator.
In the coming months, Cat Dealers will be brought
onboard as the exclusive distribution channel to the
mining industry for the Seeing Machines technology.
These capabilities will be phased in starting with
dealers in key mining regions.
“The alliance with Seeing Machines is a natural
progression of Caterpillar Global Mining’s work to
mitigate fatigue issues in mining activities,” said Al
Frese, GM of Solutions, Technology and Marketing
for Caterpillar Global Mining. “For the past 10 years,
Caterpillar Global Mining has been raising awareness
and industry understanding of the implications of
24/7 shift work on equipment operator performance,
distraction and fatigue through industry training pro-
grammes, such as Managing a Mining Lifestyle, and
through partnerships with industry organisations and
research universities.”
The alliance agreement also supports collaboration
in future product development.
“We look forward to growing the use of our fatigue
monitoring systems and to working jointly with Cat-
erpillar Global Mining to integrate our technology
into Cat MineStar™ System mine management func-
tions and to develop expanded capabilities for this
technology,” said Terry Winters, Chairman of Seeing
Machines.
Caterpillar
forms alliance with Seeing Machines
A Cat 793F on a haul road at sunset. Seeing Machines’ Driver
Safety System (DSS) is a commercial system for mining trucks
such as this and is currently used on more than 20 mine sites and
1 500 vehicles.
Seeing Machines’ Driver Safety System (DSS), a
commercial system for mining trucks, is currently
working on more than 20 mine sites and 1 500 vehi-
cles. The system continuously measures operator eye
and eyelid behavior to determine the onset of fatigue
and micro sleeps and delivers real-time detection and
alerts, yet the operator is not required to wear any
special equipment. Additionally, automatic initiali-
sation and calibration of the dash-mounted camera
requires no input from the operator. As a result, the
system is transparent to the operator.
Tiger Resources
reaches safety milestone
The Kipoi open-pit copper mine in Katanga has notched up 2 mil-
lion man-hours of operation without any lost-time injuries (photo:
Tiger Resources).
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