Safety is a clear focus for this mature mine site, which opened in 1981. Ok Tedi Managing Director, Nigel Parker, describes the business as complex yet rewarding.
“Ok Tedi is the most complex business I have been involved in,” said Nigel, “yet this complexity is one of its greatest strengths.”
The challenging landscape, Papua New Guinea’s remoteness, coupled with 11 metres of rain each year makes safety a very real concern.
“The foot print of Ok Tedi is quite extraordinary – It spans from the mining town of Tabubil, which is Ok Tedi’s own town, to the mines 20 kilometres north of here and covers 150 km of road logistics from Tabubil down to our river port in Kiunga. Then we have 800 river kilometers of barging our product down to the ocean and discharging onto our silo vessels from where we load export vessels.”
Responsible for a workforce of some 5000 people who either work directly or indirectly for Ok Tedi, Nigel adds the mine is extremely important to the local community, with an estimated 200,000 locals benefiting from its activities.
“The whole province lives off Ok Tedi and we are a major contributor to the economy of PNG, being its largest company and making up 18 per cent of its GDP and 30 per cent of its export earnings. We are a significant company for this country, yet we have some very specific safety challenges.”
Of those safety challenges, Nigel sights the rugged and narrow roads leading up and down the mountain, extreme weather conditions such as fog and low lying clouds, and the sheer size of the mine pit itself.
“Driver fatigue is a major issue. The linehaul trip, although only 150km, is very challenging as the road drops from 1500 metres above sea level down to about one metre at the port town. It is a very steep road and every day is a different day on that road because of the weather and the amount of traffic. That is why we looked to Optalert to help manage our fatigue problem.”
Optalert technology works through tiny invisible light emitters and receivers built into the frame of the patented OPTALERT Driving Glasses, measuring the velocity of the driver’s eyelid 500 times per second. An alarm is sounded up to 30 minutes prior to sleepiness characteristics setting in.
The technology is a culmination of more than 15 years of research into the physiology of drowsiness by Optalert founder and Chief Scientist, Melbourne- based Dr Murray Johns, whose system has allowed a next generation approach to the very human problem of fatigue control.
To date, the Optalert Fatigue Risk Profiler system is the only real-time driver safety system in the world that detects the early onset of drowsiness during a journey by accurately measuring a person’s level of alertness.
The system gives drivers information about their levels of alertness; well in advance of drowsiness actually taking effect. The reading fluctuates through the course of the shift and is displayed on the dash board as a 0 to 10 score. This score is then reported to the control room.
Optalert has rolled out across the Ok Tedi during August 2011, with the bus fleet flagged as a particular safety concern for the mine as each vehicle carries up to 57 passengers on each of its eight busses to and from the mine every day.
“Last year we had a number of incidents where the drivers were fatigued and were dozing off. These are very high mountains here and we can’t afford a bus to go over the edge,” added Nigel.
“We have had three major accidents recently, thankfully without any fatalities. Each accident has been a large financial and logistical burden. We have looked to Optalert as a tool to help management and our drivers to better measure the state of alertness during a shift and record valuable data.
“There are, however, some psychological challenges with our Papua New Guinean drivers around the implementation of such a high level of technology and of course overcoming the fear factor is a challenge,” adds Nigel.
“Our drivers are simply not used to wearing glasses of any type while driving. That has been a challenge that I feel we are now starting to overcome with solid education.
“Then there is the intangible fear that someone is ‘watching’ while they are driving. And their worry over what repercussions they might face when they do show signs of drowsiness and get warnings. We have taken great steps to make sure they understand that we as a company will never penalise someone for receiving an alert. Optalert is simply an alertness measure for their own safety.”
Nigel adds that it is not only the safety of the individual that is paramount to Ok Tedi, but also his extended family to which each driver is a life line providing income to potentially dozens of family members.
“We also have to be very considerate of our local communities here. Should one of drivers hurt a community member, a child or even a champion- hunting dog, this accident would cause the driver and the company serious social repercussions.
“We always ensure we do our utmost to protect our communities because it is they who provide us the licence to be here and mine. Tabubil is their land and they are very much a part of our safety procedures.”
Nigel says he is pleased with the results he has seen so far with Optalert.
“We really want the drivers to accept Optalert as a tool for their own safety and one that can predict fatigue. The reports we have received are encouraging and moving forward as the drivers start to see that they do have control over the vehicle I’m sure we will see the full benefits.
“Fortunately we haven’t had any fatigue related fatalities, but we are choosing to step in with mitigating strategies to prevent any accidents. Optalert is one of those mitigating strategies.
“Everything that we do, including strategies like Optalert, is because we want to support the drivers. It is an exciting adventure for us with this technology. We are the first to use it in Papua New Guinea.”
2011 marks the thirtieth year of corporate presence at Tabubil, with the Ok Tedi mine in operation for 26 years. Ok Tedi says it will extend the mine for anywhere between another seven and 20 years.
“We are here for the long-haul and we will not cut corners when it comes to our occupational health and safety,” adds Nigel.