Rio Tinto recognises Minprovise for Site Safety
As published on Australian Mining.
MINPROVISE gains International Coverage for new Safety Process that removes workers from the Line of Fire.
“This is a common issue across all RTIO and possibly Rio Tinto sites that can be replicated, Minprovise and Metso have informed we are the only site to do it this way. We have challenged other sites to change the way they perform this work.” – Rio Tinto Nominator
MINPROVISE, throughout years of specialist support, maintenance and shutdowns to the Mining, Oil & Gas and Construction industries, have always encouraged their employees to challenge the norm of products, processes and procedures with Continuous Improvement Initiatives. This innovation-based approach to all work, strengthens the safety of personnel through the improvement of work processes, while these developments also increase working productivity and the subsequent financial savings of Minprovise’s clients and partners.
Recently this innovative approach has been recognised internationally by Rio Tinto through Minprovise’s improvements to winding in the crusher bowl processes executed at Rio Tinto site, Greater Brockman.
The Problem
When changing the MP1000 secondary crusher bowl, it has always been believed that personnel would need to be guiding the crusher bowl into place whilst the hydraulics drive and screw the bowl down. This put personnel in the line of fire and required working on live equipment and extensive sign off from RM.
The Solution
The Minprovise team, lead by Russel Jarden and B4 shut team, challenged this norm and trialled leaving the hydraulics isolated while floating the bowl in and turning it by hand. All personnel then removed themselves and stood behind the hard barricade. The hydraulic pump was re-energised as the bowl was driven in with the crane floating the 20T weight required to ensure that the thread did not bind up. This has now been completed twice successfully at Brockman 4.
The Benefits
- Safety = Elimination of working on live equipment and personnel out of the line of fire whilst driving the bowl into the crusher.
- Cost = Removal of hold ups waiting on RM approval for working on live equipment. This was a particular issue if problem arose at night time.
- Partnership = Good learning for all and assistance in driving change that has not been attempted anywhere else