Mining

When people talk about mining being a risky industry, they can be referring to one of two quite different things. From a business perspective, the decline in mining profits over the past decade has made the financial risks involved in mining seem more significant. But a constant issue in mining is the serious personal risk of accidents and injuries that miners face.

Australian mining is enjoying an increase in job vacancies after a period of decline. This expansion is a good opportunity to take a look at workplace safety in the industry and what Locker Group can do to help.

Mining industry hiring again

Mining job vacancies dropped sharply between 2013 and 2015, but have stabilised and are now increasing, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) economists report.

According to CBA. the steepest increase is seen in the coal mining sector and is happening more for temporary positions than permanent ones, which have stayed fairly stable. The possibility that the upswing will extend to permanent positions depends on economic factors.

The coal sector is leading the increase in mining job vacancies.

A starting point for renewed attention on safety

The employment growth that comes from these vacancies may involve new workers to the industry, or a higher rate of employment for already experienced miners. In either case, this upturn is a good opportunity for a reassessment of workplace safety in the mining industry. Safe Work Australia says a sensible time for health and safety training is when people change jobs or employers take on new workers. A shift in the workforce may bring in new people unfamiliar with mining safety practices, and experienced workers can benefit from being reminded that safety is a priority.

The risks of mining

There were 17 deaths on Australian mining sites in the 2013-14 year. That number has dropped in the past two years, but according to Safe Work Australia there were were still 10 mining deaths recorded in 2015.

Strategies such as Australia’s National Safe Work Month or the push by US Department of Health and Human Services to improve miners’ training are positive steps to reducing these figures. But beyond ensuring your workers’ understanding of mine safety is up -to-date, it could pay to use this as an impetus to look at safety equipment as well. The actions of your workers will impact on their safety, but the setup of the mine itself, and the safety equipment you put in place, will also determine how well you protect your workers’ welfare.

Locker Group safety products help you protect your workers

Mining site safety is a combination of sensible practices and the right safety equipment. Locker Group provides a range of products including gratings, walkways and handrails to ensure your workers have the safest conditions possible.

Safety is important to us, and now is a good time to make sure it’s a priority for your workplace too. For more information about the products we offer, please get in touch today.

Safety is a huge issue for the mining industry, but what about for the rest of us? You’d think that the dangers of mining wouldn’t effect those who don’t venture out to mines, but what about when mining comes to you?

Take the example of Lynnette and Ray McKay from Ipswich, Queensland, whose back yard fell into a 15-metre-wide sinkhole when an old mine shaft collapsed underneath it in August. And in 2014 a similar-sized hole, also thought to be caused by an abandoned mine shaft, opened up underneath a house in Swansea Heads, New South Wales.

Sinkholes happen naturally when caves form, usually in limestone, close to the ground’s surface. When the roof of the cave becomes too thin it collapses, suddenly creating an unexpected and often sizeable pit. But this process can also happen artificially, when an underground mine collapses in a similar fashion.

The risk of this happening to you will of course depend on the mining history of your area, but you never know what instability might be lurking in the ground beneath you. If a collapse does happen at your home your first priority should be safety (and then maybe a call to the insurance company once you’ve got over the shock of your new situation). Here are some immediate ways to regain a level of safety if the ground gives way underneath you:

Handrails

The Building Code of Australia requires a handrail on decks a metre or more above the ground. An unintended pit could cause a much higher fall than that, so handrails are an obvious safety feature to stop anyone plummeting in as they admire your new garden feature. Locker Group handrails can be set up in a range of custom configurations to suit even the most irregularly-shaped hole.

Mining safety isn’t usually an issue in the suburbs, but the unexpected can happen.

Platforms and walkways

When inspecting the damage or checking details for the insurance forms, you’re going to need somewhere to stand. Unfortunately your lawn or patio are no longer to be trusted, and so some sturdy walkways or platforms will be necessary. A good product for this is Gridwalk, a versatile industrial flooring that can be customised to any shape, and either welded to a structure or easily attached with removable clips.

Given that your new garden structures need to be used not only by mining experts but also by inexperienced laypeople, you may want to ensure a more secure footing. In this case an anti-slip flooring like Safe-T-Perf is the solution. Its perforated surface has 360-degree skid resistance for people walking in any direction. Safe-T-Perf is also available as preformed stair treads which are ideal for quick, easy installation.

Fencing

To ensure safety you’ve got to keep people out of your new mine. You weren’t expecting this situation, but your in-laws will be expecting it even less when they pop over for a surprise visit. Make sure any steep drops or unstable ground are adequately fenced off to keep people out who aren’t prepared to be there. Our woven wire mesh offers plenty of fencing options, or our expanded security mesh provides a more dissuasive option if your in-laws don’t take a hint well.

The best solution to a dangerous situation is to avoid that situation altogether. Do your research when buying a home (although with that said, the Ipswich hole was caused by a shaft that hadn’t been recorded properly), and don’t go mining unless you’re a miner. But if you are a miner, or if unforeseen circumstances mean you have some sudden work to do, please get in touch today.

Space mining is a pulp sci-fi idea that isn’t far from becoming a reality, as increasingly companies and now countries are taking it seriously. Asteroid mining could begin within the next few years, so it’s worth thinking about what this new industry might look like. Locker Group is heavily involved with traditional, earthbound mining, but what sort of role could our products play on the final frontier?

The new space race

Earlier this year, Luxembourg announced it had a fund of 200 million euros devoted to helping space mining initiatives. Luxembourg’s economy minister Etienne Schneider has said that the country wants to be in the world’s top ten spacefaring nations. The fund is a step towards encouraging companies to choose Luxembourg as a base of operations.

One company that has taken up the offer is Deep Space Industries, an asteroid mining company that has announced plans to run a test flight next year, with the intention of launching its first space mining exploration mission before the end of the decade. Based on what Deep Space Industries has revealed, the company’s mining exploits at least will be done by unmanned drones and robots, but it’s hard to shake the image of something more spectacular (Armageddon and Tintin loom large in the imagination), transplanting the idea of mining as it exists here on Earth but with space suits and more lasers…

Flooring

For zero-gravity situations, flooring isn’t much of an issue – if there’s no difference between up and down then there’s no real need for somewhere to stand. But what about miners working in a reduced-gravity setting, such as on the moon or a large enough asteroid? For them the need for secure footing, although different from that in today’s terrestrial mines, is no less important.

In the Australian mining industry, more than a fifth of the serious injury claims made between 2007 and 2012 were caused by falls, trips and slips. This is enough of a cause for concern as it is, without the added difficulties of dealing with the unfamiliar physics of reduced gravity and no atmospheric resistance. Keeping a firm grip as you navigate gantries or walkways is made easier by one of our non-slip industrial flooring products.

Handrails

For similar reasons, handrails will be important safety equipment in our hypothetical space mine. These provide not only a secure grip for miners to hang on to, but also a place to tether themselves so that if something does go wrong and they find themselves adrift, they’ll be able to pull themselves back to safety.

Space mining is a sci-fi idea that’s becoming a reality.

Screens

The sun can be uncomfortably bright here on Earth, but that glare will be far worse out in space without any atmosphere to diffuse it. A partial solution would be a sun screen like our Atmosphere facade or wire mesh curtains, which reduce the impact of direct sunlight without too much of an obstruction to visibility. These are used on Earth for a range of industrial and architectural applications, and their affect on heat and light management would almost certainly have an application in a space mining setting.

Space mining is still a little way off, and by all accounts it won’t look like mining as it does today. In the mean time, Locker Group will continue its focus on what it does best – supplying safety equipment and architectural products for use here on Earth.

If you’d like to talk about how some real-world applications of Locker Group safety products could help your business, please get in touch today.