2 answers
Peter
Student
Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa
7
Questions
Updated
365 views
For mining electrical engineers, how do you balance powerful tools and worker safety ?
How do you balance keeping powerful mining equipment running while making sure workers remain safe ?
2 answers
Teklemuz Tesfay
Software Engineer and Career Mentor
713
Answers
Ethiopia
Updated
Teklemuz’s Answer
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) emphasizes that keeping risks under control, ensuring proper isolation and protection, regular maintenance, and having skilled workers are key to electrical safety in mining.
Remember, safety and production should always work hand in hand. Whenever there is a major electrical issue, use it as a chance to learn. Look at what happened, check the equipment, review the data, and understand the sequence of events before fixing it. Write down what you learn and use it to make similar equipment safer and more reliable throughout the mine.
To learn more, check out these resources:
HSE, Electrical Safety in Mines (HSG278)
HSE, Safety-Critical Electrical Systems at Mines
Remember, safety and production should always work hand in hand. Whenever there is a major electrical issue, use it as a chance to learn. Look at what happened, check the equipment, review the data, and understand the sequence of events before fixing it. Write down what you learn and use it to make similar equipment safer and more reliable throughout the mine.
To learn more, check out these resources:
HSE, Electrical Safety in Mines (HSG278)
HSE, Safety-Critical Electrical Systems at Mines
Philip Gauthier
Nuclear Plant Work Week Manager
31
Answers
Prairieville, Louisiana
Updated
Philip’s Answer
Hi Peter, I do not work in Mining but i do work in Nuclear Power where balancing Powerful Tools, Heavy Machinery, Personnel Safety and Radiological Safety is a daily Occurrence.
SAFETY IS ALWAYS THE PRIORITY. In my industry we have rules and expectations that anybody has the ability to stop work if an unsafe condition presents itself. Pre-Job safety briefs and walkdowns are mandatory prior to starting any job and continuous supervisor oversight is required for any job that is considered to carry risk. We always aim to eliminate risk instead of mitigating it. If that's not possible, mitigation actions (Contingency plans, Abort Criteria, Pre-Staged Rescue Teams additional walkdowns etc...) are assigned prior to the week of execution that lower the chance of personnel being exposed to a dangerous situation.
If an unexpected situation occurs or the Risk Changes we will stop the work and place everything in a safe condition. The work will only be recommenced after a plan has been approved by management to recommence. In the meantime we usually have other (unrelated) work that the personnel can perform while a plan is worked out. This minimizes lost resource hours and help keep us productive.
SAFETY IS ALWAYS THE PRIORITY. In my industry we have rules and expectations that anybody has the ability to stop work if an unsafe condition presents itself. Pre-Job safety briefs and walkdowns are mandatory prior to starting any job and continuous supervisor oversight is required for any job that is considered to carry risk. We always aim to eliminate risk instead of mitigating it. If that's not possible, mitigation actions (Contingency plans, Abort Criteria, Pre-Staged Rescue Teams additional walkdowns etc...) are assigned prior to the week of execution that lower the chance of personnel being exposed to a dangerous situation.
If an unexpected situation occurs or the Risk Changes we will stop the work and place everything in a safe condition. The work will only be recommenced after a plan has been approved by management to recommence. In the meantime we usually have other (unrelated) work that the personnel can perform while a plan is worked out. This minimizes lost resource hours and help keep us productive.
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