Mining and Resources
Human factors in advanced mining operations
Our work in mining began five years ago when we supported Rio Tinto's AutoHaul programme. That work involved workload and error analysis of the tasks performed by controllers at the Operations Centre in Perth. Since then we have gone on to support a range of mining automation projects across the industry, including:
- Workload assessments of pit control operators managing autonomous haul trucks
- Review of communications and decision making processes within the dynamic scheduling function
- Automation of ship loaders and the design of remote operating workstations
- Support to BHP's Rail Technology Programme (RTP)
- Ergonomics review of automated haul truck maintenance
- Human Factors review of incident investigations
Advances in technology have led to the creation of complex work environments that benefit from careful consideration of human factors integration.