Robert Wentzel,
Jonah Group
Brandon Wentzel & Brett Young,
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance/BMA
Russell White,
Driver Safety Australia
Melton White
Mideco
Mideco provide dust control products and solutions for mines, quarries and any commercial environment. We are an Australian owned company and have been operating since 1950. With over sixty years of successful dust collection experience behind us, Mideco has designed Bat Booth, the system for cleaning workers’ clothes after the shifts, helping prevent dust related conditions like silicosis and black lung.
Approved and recommended by NIOSH, UL certified and installed on sites all over the world, Bat Booth provides the highest value for OHS in mining and quarrying.
Eleonora Widzyk-Capehart & Zachary Kiehl
Simtars & Sentinel Occupational Safety
Peter Wilkinson, Associate Principal, Noetic Group
Stephen Williams
Engineering Manager, Connec High Voltage Coupler Systems
High voltage (HV) electricity is one of the primary sources of energy within underground coal mines, the effective control of which is fundamental to maintaining a safe working environment. Furthermore, the equipment typically used in HV transmission and distribution is heavy, requiring manual handling to facilitate installation in what can be deemed a confined and harsh working environment.
HV cable coupler and connection systems are an integral and necessary part of mining electrical systems. Underground mining especially has a frequent need to connect and disconnect cables as a result of both the mining process and cable/connector inspection, maintenance and testing regimes. However, current coupler designs which have been in use for several decades consist primarily of a heavy metallic body that inherently limits methods for “testing for dead” prior to touching the coupler.
This presentation describes at a relatively high level the various associated safety benefits that have been incorporated into developing these polymer coupler systems, including the ability to reliably “test for dead” prior to disconnecting a coupler and the substantial weight reductions that allow for improved manual-handling.
Having been supported by ACARP from the outset, Connec has developed the world’s first polymer-based Restrained (≤3.3 kV) and Bolted (≤11 kV) HV coupler systems that are both ANZEx and IECEx certified for use in underground coal mining environments.
Lauren Williams,
Lung Foundation Australia
Liam Wilson, ISO Committee Member TC-82 Mining, WG 9, ISO Committee TC-82 – Mining, WG 9