Dr Gareth Kennedy – Director, Mine Safety Technology Research Centre, Simtars
ABSTRACT
Simtars commenced operation in 1986, with purpose-built analytical and research facilities commissioned at Redbank in 1988. The Queensland Government established Simtars following the tragedies of Box Flat Colliery and Kianga No 1 Colliery explosions, which occurred in the 1970’s. Over the last 30 years Simtars has made significant contributions to industry.
Simtars has recently launched its new five year research strategy to help improve safety and health outcomes for Queensland’s future mining industry. The research strategy focuses on four key areas including health, safety, emergency response and emergency preparedness.
Through consultation with industry, this sets a framework for a more consolidated approach to research. Key areas will initially focus around respirable dust, human-machine interactions, emergency preparedness, spontaneous combustion and explosion characterisation and survivability.
This paper will present a summary of Simtars’ research journey over the last 30 years, an overview of current research projects, and finally discuss the plans for the future.
Dr Gareth Kennedy
Simtars, Resources Safety and Health Queensland
Dr Trevor Kilpatrick
Chief Medical Officer, MX3 Diagnostics
Prof Peter Knights
The University of Queensland
Jenny Krasny
Senior Customer Safety & Fatigue Consultant, Caterpillar Inc.- Caterpillar Safety Services
Sleep deprivation, abnormal sleeping patterns, long commute times, and highly repetitive, sustained and monotonous tasks are common predictors of fatigue across the mining industry. Fatigue is a reality that our industry faces, and while all would agree that it is a critical risk that must be managed, understanding the severity of that risk and developing the associated controls has been a challenge… until recently. Using wearable devices, the condition of our operators, employees and managers can be assessed easily and accurately, enabling solutions for fatigue mitigation and management to come to the fore. The dilemma, however, is that solutions developed for one operation do not always apply to other operations due to the unique differences in rosters, sleeping conditions, commute times and a multitude of other variables.
Having worked across four continents, supporting various mining operations identify, mitigate and manage their fatigue risk, Jenny Krasny will present to you not only the state of fatigue in our industry, but also some of the unique and innovative solutions customers are adopting to manage fatigue risk.
Simon Krismer
Welding Quality Management Systems
Darren Kwok
Head Of Mining Electrification And Technology, Perenti Contract Mining
Melanie Laas,
EMME Influence
Nikky LaBranche – Principal Mining Engineer, Simtars
ABSTRACT
Since the first case of CWP in over twenty years was reported in Queensland in 2015 there have been 66 confirmed cases of mine dust lung disease among current and former QLD mine workers. As a result ACARP commissioned research into a number of questions relating to monitoring and controlling coal dust exposure.
The project had a number of aims which include the following areas: 1) establishing the state of the art with respect to current dust suppression and prevention controls and their effectiveness. 2) Reviewing the basis used for setting an exposure standard for respirable coal dust 3) The current trends in exposure data and any underlying points of concern or interest 4) current research into reducing exposure to respirable coal dust. 5) The capacity to monitor respirable coal dust in real time – what techniques are available and what are their limitations and 6) Future directions for research into better control of respirable coal dust exposure.
The research seeks to answer these questions and better define the next questions for future research. This paper will present the progress results of the Improving Respirable Coal Dust Exposure monitoring and Control research project.