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Concurrent session 5: Our Equipment

Tracks
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
3:05 PM - 4:30 PM
Gold Coast room

Speaker

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Dr Sara Pazell
Founder / Principal Work Design Strategist
ViVA health at work

Advancing operational effectiveness in mining: A collaborative industry approach to fatal hazard management in OTR tyre handling

3:05 PM - 3:45 PM

Abstract

OTR tyre handling remains one of the most hazardous maintenance activities in mining operations involving large mobile equipment. The combination of stored energy, task complexity, equipment variability, and both tactical and decision-making demands exposes workers to credible fatal hazards.
In response, the Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table (EMESRT) has facilitated an industry-wide effort to both eliminate fatal hazard exposures and improve operational effectiveness in OTR tyre maintenance. Supported by the Australian Coal Industry’s Research Program (ACARP), two key projects—C33005 OTR Tyre Handler Operational Risk Assessment and Control Effectiveness Review and C35020 OTR Tyre Handler Technical Hazard Mitigation and Risk Assessment Tool Development—have significantly advanced the industry’s approach.
Project C33005 established a structured method for evaluating credible fatal hazard scenarios across the OTR tyre handling lifecycle and reviewed the effectiveness of existing controls. This foundational work informed C35020, which delivered the Tyre Management Improvement (TMI) Framework—an applied, systems-level tool enabling mining operations to assess, plan, and strengthen their control strategies. The TMI Framework supports operational control verification, prioritises the elimination of ‘live work’, and helps operations identify the management needs of credible fatal hazards.
Both projects were guided by EMESRT’s multi-stakeholder technical working group, comprising mining operators, OEMs, service providers, and regulatory experts. The working group also developed publicly available resources such as the OTR Tyre Handler Storyboard Animations and hazard visualisation tools. These are now widely used across industry to engage the workforce, educate workers and mining managers on fatal hazard exposures, guide procurement decisions, and plan maintenance strategies.
This presentation outlines the progression of these projects and highlights their role in shifting the industry towards safer maintenance practices. It will provide insights into implementation experiences, share learnings from the field, and showcase how structured collaboration is helping to educate the industry on the exposure to credible fatal hazards in OTR tyre handling tasks and system improvements in mining.

Biography

Sara Pazell is a human factors specialist and the principal work design strategist at ViVA Health at Work. She partners with businesses to navigate transformation—whether integrating new technologies, adapting to system changes, redesigning jobs, or managing safety-related events. Her guiding question is: “How do we design when humans are part of the system? What can we envision today that will shape our reality tomorrow?” Sara specializes in transformative, participatory action research, addressing real-world challenges through innovative work design. She is the founder and director of both ViVA Health at Work and ViVID Design Labs, a podcast host provocateur on WhyWork, an educator and researcher affiliated with multiple Australian universities, and an advisor for global and national wellness design accreditation and training programs. Her consulting work spans diverse industries including mining, construction, transportation – road, rail, and aviation, utilities, manufacturing, education, healthcare, government, architecture & design, and more. A prolific thought leader, Sara is currently finalizing her third co-edited book, Good Work Design: Conceptualisation and Practice for Sustainable Futures (Taylor & Francis CRC Press). She previously co-edited Ergonomic Insights: Successes and Failures of Work Design and Healthcare Insights: The Voice of the Consumer, the Provider, and the Work Design Strategist.
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Mr Clinton (CJ) Harding
Group Principal - Tyres
Thiess Pty Ltd

Co-presenter

Biography

Recipient of the 2025 Queensland Resources Council Exceptional Indigenous Person in Queensland Resources Award Mr Clinton (CJ) Harding has over 35 years of experience in the earthmover tyre and mining services industry, specialising in the technical application, logistics, strategy, and planning of off-the-road (OTR) tyres and related products. He has held technical, sales, management, and leadership roles with the world’s leading OTR tyre and wheel manufacturers, as well as corporate-level planning positions with the largest contract mining services provider globally. Recognised as an inventor on a patented OTR wheel design, Clinton has consistently delivered value through negotiating local and global supply agreements. His professional experience spans Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and North and South America, providing extensive knowledge of international mining operations and supply chains.
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Mr Craig Hoffmann
Principal Consultant
Wabtec Digital Mine

The application of innovative technologies to assist in reducing vehicle interaction risk, a surface technology provider perspective

3:50 PM - 4:30 PM

Abstract

Each year, 30-40% of mining industry deaths are attributable to vehicle interaction control failures (EMESRT, 2023). Over the past years, the mining industry has armed itself with a growing body of knowledge from EMESRT & ICMM’s global vehicle interaction control improvement initiatives. This enables mining companies, OEM’s and technology providers to work together to develop and implement more effective controls and drive the adoption of capable solutions.
Leveraging 20 years of experience as a global technology provider of Proximity Detection System (PDS) and Collision Avoidance System (CAS) solutions for surface mining operations, Wabtec shares key insights for the effective selection, implementation and integration of these advanced technologies into existing mine site controls and mining operations for the effective reduction of vehicle interaction risk. PDS and CAS solutions can assist mine operators to drive their safety culture towards ‘zero-harm’ objectives.
Topics covered include: Alignment with industry best practice for controlling vehicle interaction risk by EMESRT (Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table) and ICMM (International Council on Mining and Metals), the importance of a mature EMESRT levels 1 – 7 vehicle interaction control framework, managing expectations that technology controls are a ‘silver bullet’ solution, alignment with industry functional performance and technical requirements, system health monitoring and reporting, human factors engineering and operator acceptance, implementation strategy, change management program, training programs, maintenance strategies and reporting & data analytics with actionable insights.
An overview will be provided on the diverse ‘real-life’ applications of innovative sensing technologies ranging from GNSS to AI Smart Cameras for proximity detection & collision avoidance (for vehicle to vehicle, vehicle to person, vehicle to equipment or environment interactions), fatigue monitoring, driver behaviour management, edge/berm & void detection and roll-over / vehicle stability detection, all of which impacts vehicle interaction risk.

Biography

Craig Hoffmann is a Principal Consultant for the Digital Mine Technology group of Wabtec (Westinghouse Air Brake Technology) Corporation with a proud history of ‘moving and improving the world’ over the past 150 years as a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services in the freight rail, transit, mining, industrial and marine industries. He is based in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia and has a background in Electronic Engineering with over 40 years’ experience in new product development for the Mining industry, which includes his previous Product Management role leading the development and supporting the global deployment of three generations of surface Proximity Detection and Collision Avoidance solutions for controlling vehicle interaction risk. In his current role as Principal Consultant, Craig is responsible for supporting a global commercial team in new product sales and business growth opportunities, supporting new product development and product support teams, driving customer success and providing thought leadership.

Session chair

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Shane Apps
Senior Manager - Health, Safety and Training
Peabody Energy Australia Coal Pty Ltd

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