Anglo American’s real-time data analytics platform, Operational Intelligence Suite (OiS), is helping its platinum subsidiary tackle potential health hazards at the Rustenburg base metals refinery in South Africa.
The company’s Occupational Health and Information Management teams worked in partnership to develop OiS, which is able to interrogate data feeds, manual uploads and events, Anglo said.
“The diagnostic results generated by the platform helps users make the right decision, at speed, when things go wrong, in terms of performance and health and safety at our mine sites.”
The information can then be used to do a “deep dive” analysis, to get to the root cause of problems and prevent repeat occurrences.
Cas Badenhorst, Anglo’s Occupational Health and Hygiene lead, said the company developed the product in response to a growing need in the business.
“Some of our key stakeholders needed a tool that would allow them to evaluate workplace and external environments and impacts on communities as well as monitor control performance,” he said.
The key difference between Anglo’s OiS system and other, off-the-shelf, products is its ability to receive, record, and analyse data such as air flow, gas levels etc. from multiple sources on to a single platform that also has analytical and reporting capabilities, Anglo said.
OiS is already in place at several of Anglo’s businesses including subsidiary Anglo American Platinum, where potential exposure to health hazards is being reduced by real-time monitoring of dust, noise, and gases.
“In fact, application of the OiS platform has assisted the Rustenburg base metals refinery (RBMR) team to achieve significant reductions in personal exposures to airborne pollutants within 12 months by optimising control measures,” Anglo said.
When asked about the value contribution of the OiS platform, RBMR General Manager Fortune Mashimbye said: “OiS informs me daily of health-related control performance and supplies me with data and information, so I can act on substandard conditions. Having access to real-time information on workplace conditions and control status empowers me and my team to actively protect the health of the RBMR employees.”
The system is currently being introduced at Anglo’s Kumba Iron Ore business, its Coal South Africa company and Copper division’s Chagres site in Chile. Further roll-outs are planned for Brazil and Botswana in 2019, the company said.
“The next phase of development will include predictive analysis that could, potentially, prevent control failures and health and safety incidents from happening,” Anglo said.
The system was recognised at the 2018 USA National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Awards, where it took the award for Technology Innovation in Health and Safety.