Leading mining contractor Macmahon adopts ChekRite inspection system

One of Australia’s leading mining contractors, Macmahon Holdings, has implemented ChekRite’s compliance system to carry out its heavy equipment inspections and tests. ChekRite is an iPad-based App developed specifically for the mining industry as an easy-to-use, low-cost alternative to paper-based checklists for inspecting mobile and fixed assets. Over the past few months, Macmahon has been evaluating ChekRite at its mining contracts at Christmas Creek and Tropicana in Western Australia, and Waihi in New Zealand.

In early November, Macmahon formally signed up with ChekRite and is now using it for equipment inspections across three sites, with further expansion in the coming months. During the evaluation phase, Macmahon has used ChekRite for pre-starts and inspections of mobile equipment including dozers, dump trucks, water carts, service trucks, loaders, graders, excavators, drills, light vehicles and lighting equipment – covering over 50 different types of equipment.

It is now looking at using ChekRite for inspections of fixed assets such as workshops and overhead cranes, as well as Take 5 and other safety inspections.

According to Peter Truscott, Macmahon’s General Manager, Plant, ChekRite delivered significant improvements in inspection times and ease of data capture. “Implementing ChekRite has given Macmahon unprecedented access to real time information on the condition of our mining assets and significantly reduced the amount of paper work and administration on site,” he said.

“ChekRite’s ease of use, immediate capture of all inspection data, ability to ensure compliance with legislative and company requirements, and convenience has seen it get strong buy-in throughout Macmahon, from operators and fitters, to workshop managers, and through to senior company management.

“We are looking forward to expanding our use of ChekRite beyond pre-start inspections and services to cover many other processes that are currently paper-based, helping us to further ensure compliance, increase consistency and reduce costs.

“We see ChekRite as an important contributor to our commitment to the highest standards of safety and health,” said Truscott.

ChekRite Director Jordan Millar said the system had been specifically designed to provide an easy-to-use, infinitely customisable interface for any organisation that needs to regularly check or inspect equipment or facilities – and maintain a complete audit/compliance trail.

“With ChekRite, we use Apple’s highly secure iOS/iPad technology to ensure each inspection is carried out completely and consistently each time,” he said.

“Data from each inspection is uploaded automatically to a secure server for immediate and permanent access for auditing, compliance, management and analysis requirements.”

Millar said that previously, regular equipment inspections and checks had required the use of paper-based checklists.

“As anyone who’s done these inspections knows, they are time-consuming and prone to misinterpretation, illegibility, misplacement, damage, and so on – and that’s before dealing with the issue of how to capture and retain the data for future access.

“Paper-based checklists also typically result in very high levels of user frustration, tying up service personnel and management in endless paperwork,” he said.

“In contrast, ChekRite provides a consistent, reliable inspection and audit trail, ensuring a complete record of the condition of equipment and facilities condition, along with their maintenance and service requirements.

“And it can significantly reduce the time required to carry out equipment/facilities inspections and the subsequent processing of that data,” said Millar.

ChekRite is an iPad App available as a free download from Apple’s App store. It was conceived and designed in Australia as a flexible, easy-to-use and highly secure system to ensure that all asset maintenance requirements are fully met.

ChekRite was designed from the start to be infinitely customisable to just about any kind of equipment or facility to ensure it is safe, and ready to be operated or used.

All data recorded during the checking process is kept in a highly secure Tier 4 data centre in Australia for immediate access by the client.

Apart from being a permanent record of the maintenance activities for each equipment item for compliance purposes, ChekRite-generated data can be used for analysing trends, keeping track of repair and maintenance costs, and many other fleet management requirements.