Sweeping changes have already commenced to improve safety (including driver safety) at Queensland mine and quarry sites – which means sites will have legislated requirements to conduct safety audits and risk assessment in the coming months.
This presents an ideal opportunity to assess driver safety in vehicles and machinery, with Journey Management System providing an automated application to monitor travel between sites and send alerts if a driver does not reach a checkpoint on time.
Twin reviews into safety operations at mines and quarries in Queensland are set to spark widespread changes across the state in 2020.
Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham initially ordered an independent review on the safety operations of coal mines in Queensland. That was later extended to include an independent review of all mine and quarry sites in the state.
“This review will look at … how the industry can improve and how the mines inspectorate can work better,” he said.
“Separately, the University of Queensland is reviewing the state’s mining health and safety legislation to ensure it is relevant to current and emerging mine practice and technology.”
On top of these reviews and the consequent legislation that will come, $35 million has been promised by the Queensland Government to deliver reforms to improve mine and quarry workers’ health.
And four new mine and quarry inspectors have been assigned to start at Rockhampton, Mackay and Mt Isa sites in late January and early February.
Carrying out a risk assessment to improve road safety between job sites
When assessing the level of risk and putting risk management plans in place, many safety professionals will focus on the safe driving habits of workers on-site at mines and quarries.
But travelling between job sites is an area where we sometimes may not evaluate the risk and workers could become exposed to road trauma or worse.
Proper driver training and identifying the hazards that drivers could encounter when travelling between sites should be part of any existing risk analysis.
Identifying and prioritising hazards can assist in risk control, but there is still the chance that drivers can become involved in road accidents, collisions, breakdowns or other incidents in parts of the country where they may not be able to place an emergency call because of reception issues and/or injury.
Journey management app safety management solutions for driver safety
Driving between sites and operating machinery are key roles in the resources sector. But would you know if an employee had an accident in a remote location?
Journey Management System is an application that uses mobile signals combined with GPS to monitor the journeys of all workers and uses geotagging to ensure they reach checkpoints on time.
Alerts are sent if they do not reach a destination on time, even in areas of low mobile reception, so that assistance can be sent in a timely fashion.
To learn more, contact the team at JMS.
