Real improvements to productivity and safety in mining are impossible without an empowered workforce. Actively empowering a mine’s workforce requires a conscious decision by mine management based on the knowledge that an empowered workforce is not only more productive but, because they feel a sense of ownership over their work, they tend to also work smarter, more safely and show more initiative. This behaviour raises the level of commitment to company targets, increases the feedback from the field and improves mine efficiency overall.
Here are three ways the technology adopted by RAMJACK Technology Solutions is empowering the mining workforce to help make mines safer, more productive places to be:
Step 1. Real-time feedback
Unless the needed information can be placed in the hands of the decision-maker at the moment in time when they need it, your hands are tied behind your back when it comes to safety and productivity improvements at your mine. Guaranteed, reliable data communications – in real-time – is the only way to make this happen.
- Imagine the efficiency improvements you can achieve when an operator pre-shift inspection is communicated at the same moment the operator performs the inspection.
- Consider the production improvement that comes by providing real-time payload information to your shovel, loader and LHD operators as they load trucks.
- It is now possible to have real-time information for data-intensive applications both on surface and underground through the latest and greatest LTE communications.
Step 2: Safety responsibility
Every miner knows that the secret to survival is being aware of your surroundings, being alert to make the right decisions and being equipped with the right safety policies and procedures. By providing your workforce with the right tools, mines can allow and encourage miners to be responsible for their own safety and the safety of the people and equipment around. At Ramjack, we support this vision with the following technology:
- Proactive, predictive and non-intrusive fatigue management that can detect a drop in operator alertness levels before the onset of dangerous ‘microsleeps’. There’s no privacy-infringing camera required, rather actual sleep science – EEG measurements – to warn your operators of the onset of fatigue before it reaches dangerous levels. That’s empowering.
- Easy to install, configure and use proximity awareness and collision avoidance solutions that are EMESRT Level-9 compliant and use peer-to-peer communications technology purpose-built for the application.
- Reliable information about the environment surrounding your miners. Knowing your employer is committed to keeping you safe is a strong message of empowerment. With a complete range of all gas detection sensors and environmental monitoring devices and a wide array of geotechnical and hydrological instruments, your workforce is empowered with information about their surroundings, which is critical for making decisions about their own safety.
Step 3. Knowledge Transfer Programs
Ensuring your people are fully trained and functioning at a high level is difficult. Promotions, retirements, relocations and resignations all lead to gaps in operational and technological know-how that can’t easily be filled. The RAMJACK custom service portfolio focuses on realising the true value in technology through important knowledge transfer programs, such as:
- All RAMJACK projects come with the appropriate level of training and skills development to ensure new technologies are adopted with vigour and commitment; RAMJACK’s pragmatic and evolutionary approach to technology adoption ensures your mine’s Technology Roadmap is both appropriate and acceptable to your operation;
- The RAMJACK Remote Operations Centre (rROC) is a specialised program tailor-made to provide 24/7 real-time support, on-the-job training and knowledge transfer for the technology systems running on-site.