How Mining Technicians Enhance Workplace Safety in Australian Mines (And Other Safety Tips)

How to Enhance Workplace Safety in Australian Mines

No matter what industry you work in, proper workplace safety is essential. Even more so when you’re working with immense, dangerous machinery in the form of excavators, trucks and bulldozers. 

Our team has worked on some of Australia’s largest mine sites, and some of the things we’ve seen would shock you. If you work in the industry, you’ll know what we’re talking about.

Safety, despite being one of the most important parts of any mining technician’s job, often goes overlooked, either through laziness or “cost-saving”. 

The result is as you’d expect: fatalities and claims are up, year over year, with FY 2022-2023 reporting the highest number of injury claims in the last decade. 

In this article, we’ll look at the role of workplace safety in the mining industry and what you can do to address and reduce workplace hazards. 

The Crucial Role of Mining Technicians in Ensuring Mine Safety

Mining technicians are essential for maintaining safety on a mine site. Their role involves operating technology and carrying out maintenance for tools and equipment, including crushers, loaders, drills, pumps, vehicles and more. The role of a mining technician is broad, and may also include establishing mine safety protocols, conducting field surveys, monitoring progress, and ensuring compliance with safety and environmental regulations.

Having a team of competent, well-trained technicians is the first step to maintaining safety on any mine site. And with modern tools and software, mining technicians can be far more effective than they once were. 

Preventative Maintenance: A Key to Reducing Workplace Accidents

The most effective way to prevent accidents on mine sites is to carry out equipment maintenance before it’s required. Modern mining equipment is equipped with sensors to monitor airflow and pressure, temperature sensors, vibrations, wear and tear and more. With the right data it’s easy to identify any potential issues and address them before they become hazardous. 

A well implemented preventive maintenance strategy can enhance equipment reliability, operational efficiency, and reduce overall costs as you maximise uptime. Not to mention the fact that regular equipment checks are vital to prevent accidents in high-risk environments like mine sites. 

Thankfully, because of technological innovations, there are some fantastic tools available that make preventative maintenance and safety enhancement straightforward.

Enhancing Safety Through Technological Innovation

With innovations in sensors and software, enhancing safety on any mine site is now easier than ever. Here are just some of ways technology is helping managers and mine site technicians improve safety:

Risk Management and Prevention

Software and AI are being used to digitise equipment, other assets, and even processes to automate incident reporting, carry out risk assessment, hazard monitoring, and identifying maintenance requirements in real time. 

This can range from the system alerting you to routine maintenance, to real time notifications of workplace hazards identified by AI through CCTV, delivered to phones of nearby employees. 

You can even take this a step further and allow these systems to analyse data and identify trends, which can be incredibly useful for preventative maintenance and efficiency optimisation. 

Centralising Data for Auditing and Reporting

Many mine sites are choosing to centralise their records on cloud computing servers, keeping everything in one place and safe from errors and damage. 

This is useful for reporting and record keeping, but having your data protected and accessible can help you respond to regulatory changes faster and provide documentation during audits. All things that lead to improved workplace safety.

Training and Certification for Mining Technicians

Training can be time consuming and costly, but it’s one of the most effective ways to improve workplace safety. With new digital safety training platforms, you can create evolving knowledge bases to provide new and existing employees with access to all required safety training. 

There are also mobile apps available that can deliver custom training directly to employees. These are great for scheduling training, sending reminders to complete training, and ensuring all team members are up to date.

Control Site Access

Modern site access solutions offer a range of advanced features to prevent unauthorised access by unqualified people to your site. Automated, semi-portable boom gate systems can automate access and track vehicle entries and exits, all while keeping your site flexible. 

Combine this with advanced CCTV and location tracking and you can gain complete control over any site with minimal work.

Addressing Common Hazards in Mining Environments

Addressing common hazards first makes it a lot easier to deal with more complex problems in the future. With the right structures set up, you can identify and handle common problems like dust, gas leaks, wear and tear, and more without needing to spend large chunks of time on them.  

Some solutions for keeping on top of common hazards include: 

• Real-time dust monitoring to prevent dust accumulation and damage from it
• Environmental monitoring, tracking heat, moisture and more to protect equipment and ensure the health and safety of employees
• Gas monitoring and robust ventilation for preventing explosions and fire hazards
• Other hazard monitoring
• Certifications, training, and regular maintenance to reduce mobile equipment hazards
• Robust communications solutions from reputable manufacturers to ensure communication across sites is reliable and information can be conveyed accurately.

Emergency Response and Crisis Management by Mining Technicians

Once the appropriate technology is in place, the next step is processes. Having both crisis management plans and emergency management plans are crucial to maintaining safety on any mine site. 

Not only do they provide a clear picture of what to do in any mine emergency, they’re essential for maintaining a duty of care. 

If you don’t have these plans in place, there are many organisations that can help you create them. They’ll work with you to develop emergency plans and ensure managers and key responders understand the plan and can execute it confidently.

Ongoing Safety Audits and Inspections

Finally, regular safety audits and inspections will ensure that everything is in order. While they can seem tedious, they’re always better than the alternative. 

Mining technicians are best suited to this job, however many mine sites employ third-party contractors to maintain accountability and ensure things never get missed. 

When working with dangerous heavy machinery, the last thing you need is a missed maintenance check. When you have dedicated professionals equipped with the latest equipment and technology, you can have peace of mind knowing everything is under control.

The Future of Mining Safety: Technicians Leading the Way

Today’s mining technicians have a lot to live up to. Thankfully, innovations in technology and equipment have given them to tools to do the job better than ever. 

Safety requirements continue to evolve, and safety measures with them. Real time data analytics, wearable monitoring and safety devices, AI CCTV systems and more all work in tandem to provide mining safety technicians with the information and tools they need to detect and prevent hazards before they escalate. 

MTGA’s Approach to Safety in the Mining Industry

At MTGA, we’re committed to developing products that are better for people and for the environment. From communications systems to security, lighting and more, every one of our solutions is designed to provide reliable results no matter the conditions. 

If you need equipment you can rely on 24/7, discuss your needs with our team today. We’ll answer any questions you have and point you in the right direction.