As the leading cause of workplace accidents, road risk is a real issue. On World Safety Day, Eramet draws attention to the importance of applying a worldwide “zero accident” road safety policy.
Group-wide mining standards
The Group has safety standards for light and heavy vehicles (trucks, dumpers) as well as for the rolling tracks on our mining sites, which the teams are deploying in all subsidiaries with the aim of making them a standard on all sites by 2023.
At our Weda Bay Nickel site in Indonesia, the rolling tracks [FA1] have been redesigned to include speed bumps and lane dividers. Speed cameras have been installed and a traffic plan has been drawn up in the mine to avoid crossing the 500+ vehicles that drive through every day. The trucks are equipped with a rollover protection system, a metal frame that protects the driver’s cab in case of an accident. This system, called ROPS, will be deployed in the coming months at the Group’s other mining sites and adapted to light vehicles.
Digital for prevention
The Group also has several digital prevention tools to detect and manage driver fatigue. The OSPAT (Occupational Safety Performance Assessment Technology) tool, for example, assesses the level of fatigue and aptitude for duty through a visual acuity test. It is currently being deployed at all our mines.
In Gabon, an on-board camera solution in vehicles has been successfully deployed at Comilog. The camera follows the driver’s gaze during the journey to detect fatigue, possible distractions (telephone, etc.) or microsleeps. The data collected is then used to carry out preventive actions. The very good results observed, with a significant reduction in high-risk situations, mean that the system can now be rolled out to other Group sites.
Lastly, in Norway, our subsidiary Eramet Norway has installed a connected anti-collision system to protect employees on industrial sites and reduce any risk related to coactivity between machines and pedestrians.
Training and raising awareness
Finally, because prevention also and above all involves awareness and training, the internal communication campaign launched by the Safety and Prevention Department for the World Safety Day deployed at each of our 17 mining and industrial sites. E-learning modules are available for employees, essentially to train them on road risks during their business trips.
