Company Announcement - The current economic climate is pushing mining companies to reduce their costs. Unfortunately, highly capital projects such as pedestrian detection system technology is an area often compromised as a result, leading to safety-related accidents and operational downtime. The investment in a quality PDS system promises to reduce these two issues and ultimately contribute to a safe and productive mine.

Poor quality equipment compromises overall equipment effectiveness and often leads to higher running costs and capital outlay in the long run, particularly if the system does not comply with legislated guidelines or only offers machine-to-machine interaction. Booyco Electronics has been and remains at the forefront of PDS technology in the South African mining industry since 2006. “Our fit-for-purpose, ISO and legislation-compliant PDS technology, which we continuously improve and upgrade, offers world class overall equipment effectiveness which in turn ensures pedestrian safety,” says Martin Vermaak, operations manager at Booyco Electronics. He believes that the mining sector’s lack of education on legislated compliance requirements for PDS technology is contributing towards their uninformed decisions when choosing a system. “Booyco Electronics can assist customers to translate the legislated guidelines into actionable activity to become compliant as well as manage their risks. Only when customers understand compliance requirements as well as the available technology can they make informed decisions. Until then, the industry-wide implementation of PDS technology remains an issue.”

“Once informed, the purchase of a reliable PDS from a reputable original equipment manufacturer such as Booyco Electronics will become a natural choice, ultimately ensuring overall, world-class equipment effectiveness and the reduction in potential pedestrian and vehicle collisions,” Vermaak continues.

The Booyco PDS equips miners with two-way RFID tags and vehicles or other static danger zones with VLF antennae. This creates stable fields of a predetermined size and shape in front of and behind the vehicle. Upon entering this danger zone, either a static danger zone or an approaching vehicle, the pedestrian’s tag immediately triggers a warning signal relays an audible and/or visual warning alarm to the equipment operator.

The company’s overall PDS equipment effectiveness also offers significant production advantages Vermaak continues, specifically performance indicator functionality. The incorporation of Booyco PDS technology can maximise production uptime by providing holistic views of equipment availability, i.e. vehicle losses or breakdowns, as well as shift and material volume performance. “In essence, our equipment should contribute towards machine availability and performance uptime while reducing loss impacting occurrences such as nuisance alarms. Further to this it also provides data to determine such sources of loss.”

To ensure its system continues to perform optimally after installation, Booyco Electronics offers additional 24/7 product maintenance and repair support through its service teams, on site or in close proximity to site, again preventing operational downtime challenges when implemented. The company has offices in six mining-strong geographical locations across South Africa, offering full service level agreements and technical support from a local base.

“Our core equipment is also supported with peripheral products that are engineered to help customers managing their equipment and personnel safely; such as lamp room testers which test cap lamps for battery capacity, and the visual and audible performance of the Booyco pedestrian personal device,” Vermaak concludes.