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Safety in the Australian mining industry has seen some very remarkable improvements over the last decade or so, and the companies, authorities and workforce should be proud of their achievements. The below tables highlight the 42% reduction in fatalities over the last two decades in the WA mining industry. That is a great step forward and equates to a lot of lives saved.
Table 1
| Mining fatalities 2001 to 2010 | |||||||
| Year | Gold | Iron Ore | Nickel | Base metal | Bauxite | Diamond | Total |
| 2001 | – | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | 4 |
| 2002 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | – | 2 |
| 2003 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2004 | 2 | 3 | – | – | – | – | 5 |
| 2005 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 4 |
| 2006 | 1 | – | 2 | – | – | – | 3 |
| 2007 | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 4 |
| 2008 | 1 | 3 | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| 2009 | 2 | 3 | – | 1 | – | – | 6 |
| 2010 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 3 |
| 2001–2010 | 14 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
Table 2
| Mining fatalities 2011 to 2020 | |||||||
| Year | Gold | Iron Ore | Nickel | Base metal | Coal | Other | Total |
| 2011 | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 2012 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 2014 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| 2015 | 3 | – | – | 2 | – | – | 5 |
| 2016 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 |
| 2017 | – | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | 2 |
| 2018 | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2019 | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | 2 |
| 2020 | 1 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 2011–2020 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 23 |
Source: Western Australian Mining fatalities database.
It has been due to various, initiatives and improvements:
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But let’s take a closer look at the role autonomous haul trucks have played in this commendable industry improvement.
Autonomous haul trucks have a huge array of added sensors these sensors all feedback and create what is called sensor fusion. This is the process of combining multiple components to generate an output or action that is much more accurate and reliable. These sensors manage speeds in relation to inclination, stopping distances relevant to other equipment and on and on. This is the brains of the autonomous truck and what makes it fundamentally safer than manual operating trucks. These sensors have much faster reaction time and are hard coded to make particular decisions based on particular inputs. If at anytime one of these sensors malfunctions or loses communications, it will stop the autonomous truck immediately.
Anyone who has worked in an AHS mining operation understands with firsthand experience how inherently safe these systems are. With multiple robust layers of good engineering protection with AHS, it makes operating and interactions in a mining pit much more predictable and repeatable.
On top of these truck engineering controls, there are many engineering controls implemented in other vehicles operating in autonomous zones.
Some engineering controls include:
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These are just a few examples of failsafe engineering controls that are in place at all times. Anyone that has the experience of operating in an autonomous pit and has then had to revert back to manual operations fully understands the sense of confusion and powerlessness you have in a manual operation, particularly on night shift. It is literally like trying to navigate around a new and unfamiliar city without any kind of map.
Many people’s first expectation of AHS is that it could be a system that has a mind of its own, but it quickly becomes apparent that the system is designed with safety at the forefront of everything it does, and that operators have much more control of these huge machines than they have ever had in the past.
AHTs are predominantly more conservative in the way they operator compared to a manually operated truck. AHTs rely on consistence and hours of continually operations to make up for the reduced ground speeds and manoeuvrability.
So this is all good news for the mining industry and safety performance, by automating more of these mining fleets it will only contribute to the positive safety outcomes. It won’t be much longer and there will be more of vehicles operating in the autonomous zones that are autonomous or at least semi-autonomous. Vehicles like light trucks, light vehicles, water carts etc. once this begins to happen soon the probability of fatal vehicle-on-vehicle accidents will decrease even further.
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