2022 Conference Presentations

Chris Hall Superintendent Geotechnical, Cannington Mine, South32 Cannington mine is a silver lead zinc operation located in north west Queensland. The operation has been in production since 1997. Ore is primarily moved through an underground material handling system comprising of a crusher, conveyor and hoist. The underground crusher and conveyor system were sited in lower grade ore when the mine was first commissioned and a mine design exclusion zone was established around them. As the mine matured, stopping fronts advanced towards the crusher, resulting in an increase in damage of rock mass and ground support within infrastructure areas in the lower parts of the mine. In response to preliminary observations of crusher chamber deformation, additional ground support was designed and installed. As the rate of damage began to exceed the rate of rehabilitation, monitoring of rock mass became the predominant control to ensure that exposure to personnel working in the crusher chamber was appropriately safe. The intensity of the monitoring regime continued to increase as the rockmass deformed to the point that new laser scanning technology was implemented to provide short interval monitoring. Ultimately, the monitoring system enabled a safe and controlled closure of the chamber.

Prof. Naomi Rogers Sleep and Fatigue Specialist, Naomi Rogers Fatigue John Tate Barrister, Crown Law

Prof Naomi Rogers

Naomi has an international reputation in the areas of circadian disruption, sleep loss and consequences on neurocognitive function and health. She has received numerous awards, including an NHMRC Howard Florey Centenary Research Fellowship and a Tall Poppy Award. She is a past President of the Australian Society for Medical Research, and past Director of the Australasian Sleep Association and the Sleep Health Foundation and served on the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Sleep Societies. She works as a Specialist Fatigue Consultant in various industries including coal mining in Queensland and NSW, maritime, transport, defence, NASA and health care; and has served as an expert witness in coronial inquests and other legal cases. Naomi works extensively within the Queensland Mining Industry, with various companies and mine sites, the SSHRs and IHSRs and the Inspectorate.

John Tate

John was admitted to practice law as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1981. He has practiced both privately and in government in a number of Australian jurisdictions – in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Norfolk Island and Queensland. Since 1996, John has acted as Counsel Assisting in Mining Warden’s and Coronial inquiries in virtually all mining, explosives, petroleum and gas fatalities in Queensland. Additionally, he has been retained in a range of other fatality inquiries where the primary issue has concerned hospital misadventure, aircraft failure, fatigue, or the suspicion of murder. To this point, John has acted as Counsel Assisting in over 90 public fatality inquiries. For many years, John’s interests and experience have focused on the critical review of safety and health management and training systems, on accident investigation methodologies, and on compliance issues.

Dr. Nick Mabbott The Science of Sleep Director, Beyond Midnight Consulting A raft of work has been done regarding the reduction of fatigue risk. However, a portion of fatigue risk is brought into the workplace by employees who don’t fully understand sleep and its nuances. Good sleep is the cornerstone of fatigue management as it allows employees to reduce fatigue risk prior to arriving for work. Fundamental to this is to have the workforce educated on all aspects of sleep. This includes: What healthy sleep is, how to target the correct amount, how to pay back sleep debts, addressing sleep disorders, developing a healthy attitude toward sleep, understanding health and wellness implications of sleep, and implementing controls when fatigued. This presentation provides the understanding of the processes that occur within the brain when we sleep. It follows with discussion around different stages and cycles of sleep and how each of these stages add to, or take away from, our safety, health, wellness and productivity. Using the above information, the author has seen first-hand, the differences in people after applying better sleep management practices. There have been improvements in physical and mental health, productivity and safety. Healthy sleep provides a great opportunity to be the “best version of yourself”.

Dr. Jenny Legge Managing Director, JobFit Systems International Exoskeletons, or wearable robotics, are appearing in scientific journals, industry publications, the media, and even in some workplaces as a potential ‘solution’ for workplace musculoskeletal injury prevention. This presentation will outline the different types of exoskeletons currently available and their intended uses, including how they can potentially reduce the load on specific muscle groups to minimise fatigue and subsequent injury. However, there are also several documented risks associated with their use in industry. A review of the current evidence base will be presented. Acceptance of exoskeletons across industries and different work types has been variable and is still in relatively early stages of development and implementation. Mining is often seen at the forefront of safety innovation and can be early adopters of new technologies and processes. Could ‘Exos’ be the next big thing for our industry? To assist potential users and purchasers to make informed decisions before trial or purchase of such devices, a checklist for independent evaluation will be presented. This takeaway resource will also outline a number of ‘toolspecific’ risk factors to be considered in any onsite formal pre-use / pre-purchase risk assessment for the mining environment.

Tony Peirce Exploration Superintendent; NBB Geosciences, Anglo American Exploration activities within Anglo American’s Metallurgical Coal Business Unit occur across all its mine sites and exploration tenure. Drilling is manually intensive and highly repetitive. The use of automated drill rigs reduces manual handling and removes personnel from potentially hazardous zones. Analyses of drilling-related incidents since 2016, highlighted the need to move towards an automated drilling solution. Several manufacturers are involved in drill rig automation and in 2018, in conjunction with drilling contractor, Gas Field Services, Anglo American introduced a completely hands-free drill rig constructed by Boart Longyear. The Boart Longyear drill rig and associated rod loader, called a Freedom Loader is engineered to eliminate manual handling of drill rods during the drilling process and locates the driller away from the rotating drill rods at the drillhole. The rig has a tilting top drive head which simplifies rod handling through in-built tools and added functionality. Additionally, clamping devices maintain constant pressure on the rods, reducing the likelihood of dropped rods, a further hazard in working around drill rigs. The introduction of the rig is a major step towards the removing personnel from high risk environments and the reduction of repetitive, fatigue inducing manual handling tasks.

Ravindu Goonawardene Geology Geotechnical Superintendent Chris Crosby Surrey Superintendent, Anglo American Grosvenor Mine The risk of fatalities due to roof and rib failures is still prevalent in underground coal mines which highlights the fundamental importance of monitoring roof and ribs in underground roadways. Monitoring strata deformation and convergence in underground roadways is a key metric for measuring instability of excavations. Visual inspections, tell tales, extensometers and instrumented bolts are some of the methods used to quantify strata deformation. The significant limitations of the current methods only provide a point-measurement along the roadway. Using laser technology allows the mine to scan and measure large regions of roof and ribs across continuous regions with millimetre accuracy. The Maptek SR3 laser scanner has been used as a control during the rib optimisation trial at Grosvenor. This technology provides a baseline scan and subsequent scans to ascertain the extent of deformation throughout the active development mining areas. Thus, allowing geotechnical engineers to assess the adequacy of the trialled support system. Moreover, this technology allows geotechnical engineers to better analyse geological anomalies (fault orientations, dips, throw), bolting tolerances and excavation dimensions in an effective manner.

Bipin Parmar Principal Engineer, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy The potential for a gas or dust explosion, arising from misuse, failure or lack of maintenance of electrical equipment in underground coal mines is high. In order to reduce the risk of a failure, pre-overhaul audits on the Explosionprotected (Ex) certified equipment are conducted. Occasionally Simtars is involved with investigation or inspection of equipment after a failure resulting in an incident or accident. This paper will present various methods of collecting and analysing the information/data prior to the event, the actual event and post event activities. Examples of investigation or inspection work, conducted by Simtars, will be presented. These are:

• Investigation of circuit breaker failure
• Failures of electrical cable used in underground and open cut coal mines
• Fire Resistance and Anti-Static (FRAS) compliance of non-metallic materials used in underground coal mines

Results of incident investigation conclude with recommendations for the manufacturer or for the end user. In the examples presented, the circuit breaker failure indicated a manufacturing issue. The example associated with electrical cables indicated cable insulation being compromised probably due to cable crushing (vehicle run over) or poor handling practice. The FRAS issue indicated potential hazard for static discharge when used with compressed air in underground coal mine.

Assoc. Prof. Geoff Dell Head of Transport and Safety Science Courses, Central Queensland University Accidents and injuries in Australia are at epidemic proportions, the annual direct costs to the economy are now over $80 billion and the associated long term social impacts and suffering of individuals and their families are immeasurable. Clearly, existing strategies and interventions are at best holding back the flood gates and there is a need to re-think the problem and devise new and more effective programs and solutions. The high consequence low probability (HCLP) industries, like the airlines and rail, have contributed only 0.4% to these costs. So, what are the lessons from the HCLP industries which could inform effective intervention in the others? One of the key differences between HCLP industries and others is in the way safety management is regulated, especially in relation to safety management systems, their content, implementation and effectiveness. This paper will present a clear picture of the accident and injury epidemic and contrast the key differences in the way LCHP industries typically manage safety and respond to issues, hazards and incidents. It will also offer some reasons why this epidemic may have evolved and yet largely remained under the radar of government and industry leaders and provide some guidance for the future of accident prevention and regulation in order to deliver a step change reduction in accident and injury occurrence.

Ben Carnell Principal Consultant, Sentis Accurate and timely reporting of safety incidents is a crucial component of a positive safety culture. These invaluable learning opportunities allow us to adapt, make improvements and prevent future injury. Yet, recent Australian data has found that on average, 31% of incidents go unreported and in some organisations this figure rises as high as 53%*. And it’s not just frontline workers failing to report; leaders and managers also underreport at alarming rates. Session outcomes:

• Explore insights from a global research study of 12,460 participants, including mining specific results and case studies
• Discover underreporting rates across team, leader and management levels
• Understand the three key drivers of underreporting and the risks to your business
• Learn strategies for addressing underreporting in your business

*based on a sub-sample of 6,899 participants in Australia.

Mathew Haddrick Site Safety and Health Representative Brent McKay BMA Saraji Mine The mining industry has historically managed fatigue in an ad hoc fashion. A majority of leaders simply told their employees to “toughen up and deal with it” this is all part of the job. The slightly better leaders would encourage their employees to focus on sleep and preparing for work when they were away from the job. Most employees accepted that they were paid well and “being tired is simply part of the job and why they get the big bucks”. This presentation will focus on the journey Saraji mine travelled to develop our current fatigue culture, procedures and education materials. Currently the site has a solid process, a good education program, and strong tools for managing fatigue. The current culture has improved but it is a long journey and many employees still haven’t embraced the fatigue policy fully. The journey was initiated by the site SSHR, through bipartisan support of Management, incorporating key work force participation. Site was able to learn and understand that our miners were struggling throughout the shift and were exposing themselves and other road user to an increased risk of a fatigue related accident. This presentation will share some details on the journey Saraji has embarked on to achieve a common objective of reducing fatigue related events.