An Operating Excellence story about how technology is helping keep employees out of ‘the line of fire’ at Carmen de Andacollo Operations.
Finding ways to operate more safely and efficiently sometimes requires leveraging innovation with human ingenuity. That is what happened at Carmen de Andacollo Operations (CDA), when, in 2014, the team was tasked with developing a safer, better way to change the massive tires on haul trucks.
Opportunity
Haul truck tires are more than 10 feet tall and sustain a significant amount of wear and tear as a result of a mine’s rugged terrain. On an average day at CDA, the operation’s haul trucks carry almost 200 tonnes of copper ore to crushing plants and ore concentrators.
Typically, changing one of these tires requires four employees, two of whom position themselves in a high-risk area between the new tire and the axle of the truck, known as ‘the line of fire’, while checking to ensure the tire is aligned properly.
Action
A multidisciplinary team led by Rodrigo Gonzalez, Reliability and Maintenance Lead, was assembled to find a solution that would avoid exposing employees to this high-risk area during the process while also ensuring the tires were adequately stabilized.
With input and ideas from the very people who change the tires, a solution was implemented involving large clips secured to the outer part of the tire rim and held in place using ratchet straps, clamps on the hoist cylinders, shackles and clamping jaws—all existing certified tools from site.
Then, to align the bolts, two high definition cameras were mounted to the installation equipment along with a monitor inside the cabin, alleviating the need for a signal person near the tire.
Benefit
As a result of these new procedures, employees tasked with changing the tires on haul trucks are no longer required to position themselves in the ‘line of fire’ while conducting this frequent operational task.
This problem-solving experience demonstrated effective teamwork and safety innovation by the team at CDA, and a review is underway to potentially expanding the practice to other operations. The solution was simple, cost-effective, and leveraged existing technology that the team was able to implement at the operation on an ongoing basis.
