Independent auditing as a new trend in industrial safety assessment at hazardous production facilities of the mining industry

The paper discusses a new key trend used to assess the state of industrial safety at mining operations as well as the cooperation efficiency. The experience GEOEXPERT LLC has gained in carrying out independent technical auditing and the relevance of this line of activity has been demonstrated. Taking into account current challenges and the experience of technical auditing, as well as the prospects for the development of this activity, the article and the data presented in it will help the top management to make their decisions, while the description of real auditing cases will provide the mining companies with an insight into the use of this new method of co-operation. Independent technical auditing is one of the tools to control the state of industrial safety at a mining operation, which provides a general picture of the company, classification of hazardous production facilities according to their hazard characteristics, independent verification of compliance of the production process organization and the production patterns with the regulatory requirements in order to improve the safety of operation, enhance the quality of products and reduce production risks. Three decades of experience gained by GEOEXPERT LLC and studying various aspects of challenges in the mining industry help to identify the method of independent technical auditing as one of the main tools for solving industrial safety problems and preventing emergencies at the operations.