Traffic management and road safety on mines are too often considered as an 'ancillary' activity and somehow secondary to the core business of moving dirt from A to B. This is despite mobile equipment accidents being the highest cause of fatalities, accounting for some 30% of all fatalities, at International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM) operated mines in 2018 (Benchmarking 2018 Safety Data: Progress of ICMM Members). Whilst there are, obviously, numerous reasons for such a situation, it can be argued that it is partly due to traffic engineering being a specialised technical area which is usually not part of a typical mining professional's skill set.
At its basis, the (safe) management of traffic on mines follows the road safety model that applies to public road networks around the world. Road safety is a multifaceted system comprising four main pillars: Users, Vehicles, Systems (regulations) and Roads. In my experience, the mining industry appears to be holding its sight, and hopes, towards the Vehicles part of the road system. The emerging collision avoidance, proximity detection and fatigue management technologies certainly look like proverbial silver bullets that will once and for all address this aspect of risk management. Whilst the technological solutions, along with the autonomous vehicle operation have a lot of potential, and should be considered as one of the measures, the reality is that their practical implementation across the board will not happen in the near future. All the while, the industry cannot continue to wait and stay with the 'do nothing' approach.
I am interested in hearing from other fellow professionals about their experiences, and success stories, in the implementation of other elements of Traffic Management System on other mines:
- Management of vehicle speeds
- Training and education (both for operators and pedestrians)
- Design of roads (particularly intersections)
- Management of interactions in parking and maintenance areas
- Rules for interactions between Heavy and Light Vehicles
- Use of traffic signs
- Road rules (including communication protocols), etc.
Reach out and let's learn from each other.
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