Mining giant Kumba Iron Ore (Kumba) is implementing a fatigue management system pilot project at its Kolomela mine, near Postmasburg, in the Northern Cape.

The system, known as the Predictive Risk Intelligent Safety Module (Prism), started in October and is being implemented over three months by fatigue research and management company Prism.

The electronic and software module's aim is to reduce and manage fatigue within mines, enhancing employee safety, preventing accidents, death and lost time owing to injury once the mine starts its operations next year.

"Kumba chose its Kolomela mine for the pilot project because the company wants to embed the fatigue management system into its mine from the first day of operations. About 100 employees were selected by Kumba to participate in the pilot project," says Prism education director Dr Doug Potter.

A fatigue index monitoring system links to the mines clock-in system and collects the total number of hours worked by an employee and calculates fatigue based on the consecutive hours and shifts worked.

The consultants working with Prism conduct analysis of a mine's requirements, its schedules, the employees' shifts, the number of workers and the mine's function to identify changes needed to reduce fatigue at the mine. Prism then tracks each employee and, based on age, work and shift functions, provides a fatigue score.

Lifestyle planners help determine the amount of sleep and food a particular employee needs and the best times of the day for sleeping and eating, says Prism business director Marcus Wichmann.

"Previously, fatigue was not quantifiable and, to mitigate fatigue, various industries limited their working hours, while government imposed regulations to prescribe working hours, particularly in high-profile jobs such as aviation," he says.

He adds that a definitive measurement of fatigue was required for companies and workers to implement quantifiable methods of managing fatigue.

The system requires employees to log into work through a point of safety unit with personalised swipe cards, which will allocate a colour signal based on the employee's calculated fatigue level, Potter says.

Prism also includes a fatigue risk warning system, which comprises the notification of an employee and several supervisors when an employee has met a fatigue warning threshold and provides indications as to when specific employees will reach fatigue warnings, as well as a fatigue risk mitigation system, which provides specific fatigue countermeasures and integrates the fatigue countermeasures into an individual's fatigue index.

The countermeasures are customised to individual jobs and can include exercise, a 40-minute nap, specific food or liquid intake or bright light therapy.

Prism expects to save the Kolomela mine significant costs in the form of reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, reduced accidents and lost time and reduced healthcare needs.

"With the implementation of Prism, employees will work more safely, have fewer accidents and will be more productive because they are alert, all of which have a direct financial benefit," concludes Wichmann.

To watch a video on Prism business director Marcus Wichmann discussing the implementation of a pilot fatigue management system at Kumba's Kolomela mine, go to www.miningweekly.com and click on 'Multimedia' and then on 'Video Clips', or watch the video on the Mining Weekly App on your iPhone.

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