Mining is a resourceful economic venture that continues to spur growth in various locations around the world. The mining industry employs numerous individuals, whose quality of life has improved as a result of this employment. However, this venture poses various risks on people as well as the environment.
Since mining involves drilling of underground tunnels among other dangerous engagements, some workers lose their lives while on duty. Sometimes, the prevailing conditions may interfere with mining operations resulting in the abandonment of particular sites. As such, those taking part in such activities should embrace necessary safety measures to avert possible risks.
At Bend-tech we value best practices that promote safe working environments. Here are some insights on how to make a mine site safer.
Risk Management
Australian Safety Standards encourage the use of risk management software within the mining industry. This includes software in line with ISO 31000 risk management, and associated risk assessment framework. These safety standards contain details on the current and potential risks associated with mining activities.
Access to this information goes a long way in helping industry specialists assess, track and reduce each of these risks promptly. Being proactive whenever they are on site, means protecting both lives and the equipment in use.
Compliance Management
We firmly believe that industry specialists who are focused on ensuring safety within various mine sites, cannot afford to overlook the aspect of compliance. The standards set to foster safer mine sites are meant to address any concerns that may threaten mining activities. Hence, any concerns raised as a result of compliance issues, should not be ignored.
On the other hand, authorities have a responsibility to conduct compliance investigations. When the report on these surveys is released, industry experts should respond accordingly without delay. Some of the measures they can take include rolling out systems and procedures to prevent recurrence of threats and fostering the improvement of mining activities on a continuous basis.
Health and Safety
It is not prudent to expose workers who have health issues, to the risks that encompass mining operations. Bend-tech advises industry experts to make use of a data application capable of monitoring the health status of their workers.
The application can maintain a variety of employee records, including the status of physical rehabilitation, injury management reports, health history reports, sick leave reports and claims of workers’ compensation, among others. The data application updates these records from time to time, and its access should be limited to a few select individuals.
It is also possible to feed details of the health and safety procedures training schedule on the application and monitor the current status of worker’s health in real-time.
Management of the Environment
The environmental database application is a provision enshrined in the Australian Safety Standards. It has details on both local and national regulations for compliance by every mine operator. In the event of environmental incidences, the application allows you to define emergency management plans, and come up with tasks that support immediate response, as well as personnel notifications.
Conclusion
Negligence is one of the reasons why miners are exposed to various risks on-site. By adopting the above approaches, industry experts will achieve a lot in their endeavour to make mines safer.
About The Author: Jesse Emia
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