Risk Management for Surface Plants in Mines Using Risk Matrix and BowTie Analysis

Abstract

Surface plants in mines are important parts of a mine operation. There exist offices, common areas, repair and maintenance shops, compressed air facilities, hydraulic facilities, areas where mine machinery and parts are stacked, transportation cranes and mine stock areas in surface plants. Therefore, while the mining operations are continuing, it is necessary to control all the work in the surface plants in terms of work safety and health. In this study, the risk matrix method is used to identify and prioritize the risks of surface plants in a mine. Then, the highest priority risk, which is found to be "Stock area and work environment", is considered using bowtie analysis. Four threats are determined for "Stock area and work environment" risk. These are improper ore or coal stock area, insufficient lighting in night works, lack of maintenance of field crane and dusty work environment. These threats are also modelled using bowtie analysis. As a result of this study, these threats, corresponding barriers and consequences can be managed by safety and operational engineers.