Overview

SmartCap’s installation at this open-cut copper mining operation in East Asia followed multiple successful deployments in Australian coal  operations across the business’s global portfolio. Fatigue had been identified as a potential hazard, with the mine’s haulage fleet recognised as the highest-risk asset class. Following the initial deployment to 38 mining trucks, SmartCap has since been additionally deployed to:

  • the bus fleet responsible for transporting personnel to and from the local airport and around the mining lease
  • the over-the-road truck fleets responsible for moving copper concentrate from the site to its final destination.

Original Install Date: SmartCap was deployed in September 2015, with full rollout to the mining operation completed in January 2016.

Number of Trucks and Drivers: The number of vehicles and drivers that benefited from each stage of the deployment are as follows:

  • Open-cut operation: 45 mining vehicles and 386 operators
  • Bus fleet: 15 buses, 2 light vehicles and 45 drivers
  • Concentrate truck fleets: 173 trucks and 250 drivers

Deployment Statistics: Over the past year, SmartCap’s usage on this operation has totalled 316,000 hours and 11,430,000km of driving. Broken down over the three different areas of the deployment, this equates to:

  • Open-cut operation: 240,000 hours (at 30km/h) and 7.2 million km
  • Bus fleet: 11,000 hours (at 30km/h)and 330,000km
  • Logistics: 65,000 hours (at 60km/h) and 3.9 million km
Outcomes

Statistics following this deployment show:

  • There have been zero fatigue incidents for SmartCap operators across 3.5 years and 1.1 million hours of operation.
  • There has been a 68% reduction in the fatigue alarm rate.
  • Early warning alerts have resulted in 97.7% effective operator self-management actions.
  • The SmartCap data has generated the business insight that there is an 80% increase in the fatigue risk alarm rate during the sub-zero winters compared to summer periods.