Capital Equipment News May 2019

SAFETY

Change in approach Lourens believes that there has been a change in approach to the legislation from a customer point of view, saying most mining houses now understand that that the implementation of PDSs is assessed and risk-based. Whatever each mine’s risk assessment identifies as significant risk, that’s what needs to be addressed with the PDS solution. “There has been a massive drive through the Minerals Council to educate customers to fully understand what this means. There is now better commitment to the entire process. Mines are taking time to attend the various workshops regarding traffic management and PDS/ CAS systems to get a full understanding of the process of compliance,” says Lourens. “The market is continually getting educated on the PDS. In the past, the biggest challenge was that the industry didn’t understand the implication of the legislation and the technology. They were also making buying decisions influenced by price – with cheapest solutions gaining favour,” says Lourens. He adds that the Minerals Council’s good work when it comes to risk assessments has made it easier for mining houses to understand what they need. “I can see the difference compared with five years ago. The market has matured in the past 12 months and it’s a major step in the right direction,” adds Lourens. Lourens says the testing process has also ushered in a new era in terms of product development. He says there is a big difference between the PDSs that were available in the market five years ago and today’s systems. “The market has definitely matured from both a supplier and user point of view,” he says. Booyco has also done a lot in the past three to four years in terms of its own product development. “From a solution point of view, we have established a hardware platform that is similar for all our solutions. All the enhancements to the systems are mainly software driven. We have reached a point where we can offer a solution to the customer today, install it and all the future enhancements made to the system can be loaded as a software upgrade. We have adopted the mobile phone approach, where upgrades don’t necessarily mean that you have to change the hardware, but only enhance the software,” concludes Lourens. b

“EMESRT Best Practices define the scope of the functionality requirement of any PDS globally. This has lifted the game in terms of functional standards, while levelling the playing field in terms of compliance, allowing customers to compare apples to apples.”

Anton Lourens, MD of Booyco Electronics

about a year ago. Booyco was one of the first companies that used the simulation model to verify its products. We gave information to the University of Pretoria on the functionalities of our PDS system. The PDS supplier has to define the functionalities of its system to the University, which then takes the information into the simulation model and also conduct physical tests at the Gerotek testing facility in Pretoria,” explains Lourens. Test results Test results are then compared with what the manufacturer claims the product can do. The University of Pretoria then issues an independent, third-party test report, stating what the product can and can’t do against the deferred test criteria. “We have done the tests for both surface and underground scenarios. It was an interesting learning curve for us. We have subsequently gone back for the second and third time to improve on our test reports. The past 12 months have been a massive learning period for all of us in PDS industry in determining what can and can’t be done. The tests actually verify the full range of the Level 7 to Level 9 compliance. Level 9 is the intervention performance that is driven by industry,” says Lourens. Lourens explains that from a compliance point of view, EMESRT works on nine levels. Level 1 to 6 deals with administrative and engineering controls, to make sure that operations have the right equipment for the right site. “Level 7 is a collision warning system, to be able to warn the operator that there are potential hazards. Level 8 is advisory systems, where the system has to advise the operator to slow down or stop. Level 9 is a fully automatic intervention where the system takes control of the vehicle. Levels 7, 8 and 9 are the ones that deal with the PDS,” explains Lourens.

“We have achieved very satisfactory results at Gerotek to an extent that we have received an order from one of the big blue-chip companies to supply their surface PDS,” says Lourens. The contract was awarded directly as a result of the tests Booyco did at Gerotek. Lourens says the exercise is good for the industry as it affords customers a platform to see independently who can do what. Collaboration is key Lourens says while a lot of work has gone into the tests, the interface specification has also received much attention. The interface specification is based on ISO 21815, which deals specifically with the interfacing between the OEM’s equipment and the PDS equipment. “We have been working closely with some of the leading OEMs, mostly Bell Equipment, to make sure that whatever the specification calls for, we can comply,” says Lourens. A key challenge as far as collaboration is concerned is that some OEMs are less helpful in terms of involvement in the process and the approving of these various PDS/CAS units because the MHSA Section 21 Manufacturer law makes the manufacturer liable if the unit fails. Lourens reasons that it’s also a costly exercise and some of the international OEMs are just reluctant to commit large investments into this exercise, given that South Africa is a tiny portion of their global businesses. The regulator has since facilitated various meetings with industry, OEMs and PDS suppliers to find solutions. The outcome is definitely a better understanding from industry on the requirements and risk evaluation process and user requirements for PDS/CAS. OEMs are also now starting to liaise with the Minerals Council and PDS suppliers. Many PDS suppliers now have regular meetings with OEMs to assist in finding operable reliable solutions for PDS/CAS.

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