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The paper-free way to better manage safety

Having a robust and easy-to-use safety reporting procedure in mining and exploration operations is essential to developing a resilient safety culture. Correct and detailed reporting will obtain important information about health and safety issues in the workplace, identify problems when they arise and prevent future occurrences. Traditionally, it has been tough to make procedures work without placing a burden on personnel, whether it be the training or just the day-to-day operations.

Processes that traditionally consisted of pencilling in answers in carbon copy books, taken to the office and manually entered into an excel spread sheet by an office administrator and eventually entered into a database for reporting, simply is too long and a complicated process. Doing it incorrectly can potentially lead to serious injuries or legal issues.

Comprehensive and verified reporting helps companies manage safety issues and effectively prevent incident recurrences. They can also help in understanding why incidents occurred, making better decisions, setting priorities, and allowing users to analyse trends in the workplace. But this is only achievable if the data is clean, workflows are streamlined and you have the tools to interpret data easily and fast.

IMDEX MOBILE™ takes traditional, paper based workflows and using the advances in mobile technology to create a seamless workflow for the real-time acquisition and validation of field data. This software-as-a-service is the mineral industry’s best practice for paperless data collection and productivity reporting. The application ensures supervisors, managers and stakeholders can make informed decisions based on real-time data they can trust, anywhere, anytime, and users can input data easily and fast.

With an easy to use interface, strict data verification QA process and seamless integration to the company’s cloud based hub IMDEXHUB-IQ™ and other third party software, this application streamlines the data capture and management process.

The three key formats IMDEX MOBILE™ provides safety in a digital platform are pre-start inspections, verification of competency (theory and practical assessments) and customised forms.

Traditionally with pre-start inspections carbon-copy books have been used, but a risk with human nature means mandatory information may not be fully captured. Some sites can have hundreds of types of machinery, vehicles or equipment on site – each with its own specific checks. By digitizing forms, we can customise and create relevant questions which will display depending on what kind of equipment you are selecting. With IMDEX MOBILE™, we are able to build business rules and logic in to the forms, making sure the data is clean and the process is not overcomplicated. Another key outcome is the ability to record fuel consumption, engine hours or distance travelled against an asset ID, and integrates data with 3rd party maintenance management software.

However, data capture is only the first part of the solution, IMDEX MOBILE™ also automates email notifications so critical data, such as critical faults can reach maintenance staff and supervisors - sometimes faster than receiving a phone call. This all adds to the prevention of injuries and commercial impacts such as equipment damage and productivity losses.

IMDEX MOBILE™ is also equipped to carry out verification of competency (VOC) such as theoretical and practical assessments. Generally there is certain equipment that staff must be trained on at regular intervals. This may be the case of new starters who need to know the background of using equipment or existing staff that need to brush up on their knowledge. The ability to conduct an assessment on site was traditionally a paper-based format with many large documents required. With paperless assessments, conducting training is easy, signoff can be instantaneous, training matrix reports automated and stored via IMDEXHUB-IQ™. This way drilling contractors and resource companies have instant access to who has completed what level of training and at what date, without following a paper trail.

We have a number of clients that elect to design their own customised forms and safety inspection workflows such as site inspections and rig audits to maintain their site safety requirements. Traditionally these workflows experience the same pitfalls – human error on data capture, time standing at the scanner, data entry into a spread sheet and the primary database. These are critical workflows that can take up an incredible amount of time if you conduct a time cost analysis.

Over the last six years, IMDEX has seen a big emphasis on safety and has made it a priority to make processes easier and more efficient. The key principle of safety is the cost of human life; IMDEX has seen the industry progress rapidly over the last 20 years particularly, compared to the 60s and 70s where the industry just accepted that injuries would just happen. Now IMDEX is empowering their clients to utilise technology to increase safety awareness and reduce incidences. As more and more sites gain access to internet connection and everyday people are spending more time on their devices and utilising online tools, IMDEX MOBILE™ has been a natural addition to sites.

Visibility across all activity provides valuable information for companies to ensure their projects remain safe, within budget and on time. Contractors can monitor crews, equipment, hazards and consumables on a shift by shift basis to ensure they remain within project parameters, the worksite is safe and operations can continue as normal. Throughout the experience of releasing this product globally, IMDEX has been able to eliminate manual data entry, greatly reduce human error and change a time-consuming, high maintenance process into an instant one.

Further information

For more information on IMDEX MOBILE™, IMDEX’s Drilling Optimisation solution or ways we can support you, please contact your nearest REFLEX or AMC representative. You can also catch Troy Geisler speaking about our solutions at the Drill Rig and Safety Innovation Forum on 20 July 2018 in Johannesburg.

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Having a robust and easy-to-use safety reporting procedure in mining and exploration operations is essential to developing a resilient safety culture. Correct and detailed reporting will obtain important information about health and safety issues in the workplace, identify problems when they arise and prevent future occurrences. Traditionally, it has been tough to make procedures work without placing a burden on personnel, whether it be the training or just the day-to-day operations.