Modern Mining May 2025

HEALTH AND SAFETY

To achieve safer tyre servicing, mining companies need to work closely with their teams, service providers, OEMS and training bodies.

Protecting mining tyre technicians faster and more effectively Kal Tire whitepaper highlights mounting safety challenges and the opportunities to reduce, and even eliminate, risk. S ervicing mining tyres—particularly earthmover tyres weighing nearly 5 000 kilograms—has always posed a significant risk. While trucks are evolving and production targets are increasing, tools and processes used by tyre technicians haven’t kept pace to improve tyre technicians’ safety.

engineering controls, like innovative tooling, to guard against hazards more effectively.” Kal Tire’s latest whitepaper “Under pressure: Innovation is key to safer mining tyre service work,” explores why action is needed— collaboratively and urgently. Challenges of modern mine sites The statistics are alarming: Between 2018 and 2023 alone, there were more than a dozen fatalities related to servicing mining tyres. The whitepaper’s central question starts by addressing how safety challenges have been mounting. First, mine sites are seeing a rapid development in truck types and sizes: think of autonomous systems, electric and battery technologies, and hydrogen fuel cells. Next, many sites are increasing production targets. That means plant equipment and tyre service are pushed to their operating limits—at a time when the industry is experiencing a shortage of skilled workers. “As automated systems become more economical and feasible, there are so many opportunities to use automation in the tyre service space to eliminate hazards and risk,” says Allan. “The only limit to the applications of these automated systems

In a new whitepaper released by Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group, the company reflects on what’s been done in the past to mitigate risk for technicians—and what’s possible, with collaboration and investment in tooling and practices, to strive to eliminate risk. A slow evolution of mitigating risk Those who have been in the mining tyre service industry for several decades will recall the safety measures of the early days: a hard hat, gloves, a safety vest and glasses. In time, the introduction of safe work procedures and mechanisation helped to improve safety. “Frequently in mining, rules or personal protective equipment (PPE) are used for mitigating hazards, but these aren’t enough,” says Dan Allan, senior vice president, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group. “Implementing high level controls tends to be more effective than those at the lower end of the control hierarchy. It’s time to think about eliminating hazards through new processes, or using

24  MODERN MINING  www.modernminingmagazine.co.za | MAY 2025