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Spotlight on mining industry safety in 2008

The national safety audit of mines ordered by president Thabo Mbeki late last year means improved safety standards are now a non-negotiable within the mining industry.

Statistics

According to the Solidarity labour union, 201 miners died in mining accidents during 2007, compared with 199 the previous year. While the numbers have not increased dramatically, any kind of increase places a black mark against the mining industry's name and reputation.

One well-publicised incident that took place in October last year saw 3200 miners trapped underground for more than 24 hours after a lift cable snapped in a goldmine southwest of Johannesburg.

This event prompted president Thabo Mbeki to order a nationwide safety audit of mines and several mines have since seen their operations temporarily shut down after accidents or instances of negligence.

According to Downie, this new hard-line approach by Government will affect output and prices if the situation is not improved. The industry must aim to set its own standards higher or face the consequences - which will ultimately affect its bottom line.

"Mining companies do have a hard task when it comes to securing their vast mine shafts - both in terms of crime prevention and safety. With up to 30 000 employees working at a single mine, it is notoriously difficult to keep track of who is where and doing what at all times," admits Downie.

However, Downie also argues that integrated, high-tech security systems can go a long way to improving the situation.

"i to i technologies provides holistic security solutions to the mining industry. Our systems are designed to increase security as well as safety standards, thereby protecting the assets, people and information of mining operations," explains Downie.

"Our complete turnkey security installations are designed to minimise risk with the aim of preventing an accident or crime before it even occurs. We conduct a detailed analysis of the risks facing our clients and then build our processes around our findings, thereby tailoring our systems to their unique circumstances.

"The dangers facing this industry are threefold," says Downie. "Firstly, the underground environment is by its nature unstable and vulnerable to any seismic activity. Unfortunately, we cannot prevent these natural events, but luckily technology today is able to detect such activity in advance, thereby greatly improving the chances of a safe evacuation. Our surveillance equipment and access control can, however, make a difference in this regard by making sure that only authorised parties are in access-restricted areas (ie, in sensitive or unstable areas) and by detecting any instances of miner negligence - thereby ensuring that safety protocols are followed at all times.

"Secondly, faulty equipment and machinery can pose a real threat to workers' lives. Our systems can automatically detect when equipment stops working, sounding an alarm in the central control room. This early warning system can help to prevent serious accidents," explains Downie. "We also have fire detection alarms as well as systems that alert the central control room if power is lost on any part of the mine."

The third threat to miners' safety comes in the form of armed robbery on mines. This is where access control, CCTV surveillance, perimeter security and alarms can make a real difference in preventing an intrusion onto the mine.

"The syndicates that target mines are particularly ruthless as the risks involved in such activities are very high," explains Downie. "Cutting-edge security systems are needed, not only to protect a mine's produce, but its personnel as well."

Success stories

Peter van Vuuren, asset protection manager at AngloGold Ashanti, says that i to i's security solution has helped to improve the safety standards of its mining operations.

"CCTV surveillance is an excellent tool for preventing any carelessness on the mines. The footage is watched from a central control room 24 hours a day in realtime and this encourages our workers to follow safety protocols with care," says Van Vuuren. "Having the footage recorded in digital format is also very helpful as it makes it far easier to store or refer back to if evidence is needed in the case of an accident.

"Access control systems also prevent illegal miners from entering our property and work areas. Illegal miners pose a major risk underground as they are known to make fires and have also attacked workers."

AngloGold Ashanti has chosen i to i technologies as its security provider for the last seven years and the solution includes CCTV surveillance and access control as well as a central control room from which to monitor and manage each aspect of the system.

Many of the other mining operations with an i to i security solution are already industry leaders in the safety arena. The Lonmin group, which has had a relationship with i to i technologies for the last nine years, was one of the first mining groups to be granted the New Era Mining License as recognition of its commitment to improving and maintaining safety standards on its mines.

The multitiered approach to security at Lonmin includes more than 1000 CCTV cameras (and counting), 124 access control points, electric fencing and perimeter alarms - all of which are linked to central control rooms where they are managed and monitored. This partnership has enabled the Lonmin mines to deal effectively with everything from mineral, equipment, cable and vehicle theft to breaches in safety procedures.

Tailored solutions

According to Downie, i to i technologies is committed to helping all its clients improve their safety standards by using a combination of the very latest in technology and the tried and tested methods they know and trust.

"We tailor our systems to our clients' needs to ensure that our solution meets all their unique risk factors," explains Downie. "Mining companies who have neglected the safety aspects of their operations in the past need to realise that improved safety measures are not only for the miners' benefit - they will have positive effects on their mine's productivity and reputation and, ultimately, their bottom line."

Dr Clive Putman, engineer and consultant to i to i technologies, shares this view.

"Safety is a non-negotiable in this industry. The government is on the lookout for any instances of negligence and will take the hard-line if the new legislation is not followed," says Putman.

Putman argues, however, that companies looking to raise the bar in the safety arena need not reinvent the wheel. Many of the security systems already in place can be used to boost safety as well.

"Security in the mining industry has been a top priority for many years now," says Putman. "Most mines already have sophisticated security systems in place that can double up with a safety function as well.

"For example, access control does not only keep intruders out, but can also keep miners out of sensitive or dangerous areas. Surveillance systems are not just useful for detecting breaches in security but can be used to monitor for instances of negligence or carelessness on the mines. Alarms can alert the control room to intruders, fires as well as power outages, and public address systems can assist in the speedy and efficient evacuation of all miners in the case of an emergency," explains Putman.

These dual functions may seem obvious; however, Putman argues that if mining companies want to optimise their security equipment they need to integrate all their various systems into one that is centrally controlled and monitored - and that is intelligent enough to make the split-second decisions that can save lives.

"Having all these bits of high-tech equipment is fantastic, but to maximise their effectiveness one needs to integrate them all into a single Enterprise Management System," explains Putman. "The software that underlines these systems is called an Integration Platform. This is the magic software that links each aspect of your safety and security system to a central control point.

"With an enterprise management system, control room operators have all the information they need right at their fingertips. If they notice an intruder on one of the surveillance monitors they can react immediately by sealing off the relevant access points, sounding the alarms, making a public announcement and alerting the guards all in a matter of seconds," says Putman.

Putman also explains that the Integration Platform has a 'rules-based control' function, which means that actions can be pre-programmed into the software. With this intelligent software the system can perform functions automatically, thereby eliminating the need for a control room operator to prompt the necessary reactions.

"The 'rules-based control' aspect of the enterprise management system is highly intelligent and eliminates the risks associated with basic human error," says Putman.

"Take this scenario as an example: a fire is detected in a certain zone of the mine. The system is pre-programmed to automatically open or close certain access points in the vicinity, make a pre-recorded announcement on the public address system to prompt evacuation and turn all CCTV cameras to that area so that the situation can be monitored and recorded for future reference. And all this can be done within seconds and without any human intervention."

i to i technologies provides integrated Enterprise Management Systems in South Africa, but according to Ian Downie, this solution is yet to be adopted by players in the mining industry.

"This technology is already setting the security benchmark in many sectors but the mining industry is lagging behind in this regard," says Downie. "With the mining industry being such a high-risk sector, however, it only makes sense for its players to start looking at the enterprise management system as a new way of protecting their operations intelligently and efficiently."

And for companies who are really looking to employ the most cutting edge technologies on their mines, Putman says there are many exciting new products making their way onto the market.

"The realm of surveillance has gotten very high-tech over the last couple of years. Not only are CCTV cameras now IP-based (Internet Protocol), which makes them more reliable, there are cameras that have 'image processing' capabilities as well.

"This means that the software in the cameras is able to automatically track any human behaviour that it recognises as suspicious or out of the norm. Infrared cameras with this technology are making it onto the security scene as well. This promises to make fire detection more efficient than ever before.

"These cameras can detect a tiny flame within their viewing range and alert the control room operators far quicker than is possible with a traditional smoke detector, which only works when a huge amount of heat has already been generated," says Putman.

Such technologies promise to give mine owners and managers more control over their operations than ever before.

"i to i technologies is determined to become the leading security provider in this sector and to do this we need to guide our clients through the realm of new technologies on the market, choosing the products that will make a real difference to their operations and designing a solution that is user-friendly but sophisticated enough to outsmart even the smartest of criminals," says Downie.

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