Citation

Galy B, Giraud L. Safety Sci. 2023; 167: e106267.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106267

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In addition to extracting the ore from the mine, most mine hoists transport the miners from the surface to the various underground levels of the mine. When travelling downwards or upwards the mine shaft, miners are exposed to some risks: the conveyance could go down the shaft, crash in the headframe due to an out-of-control mine hoist or crash in a undetected obstacle. Mine hoists are not always commissioned with hundred percent new parts, and are sometimes retrofitted from old mechanical parts. This article presents a statistical review of mine hoists in use in the Province of Quebec, Canada, a quick review of the safety regulations and machinery safety standards applicable to mine hoists and a fault tree analysis (FTA) and risk analysis for a generic drum hoist. The risk analysis was conducted following the methodology prescribed by the IEC 62061 standard. From a practical standpoint, the main conclusion is that a SIL 3 (Safety Integrity Level) compliant command and supervision system should be used to safely cover all the hazardous situations that can happen in the day-to-day operation of a mine hoist. Based on the FTA and risk analysis findings, a proposed design of the command and supervision system for mine hoist is presented. Among the notable differences with the current mine hoist command and supervision system, the authors suggest a total separation of the command and supervision Programmable Electronic System (PES). Finally, the article proposes risk mitigation strategies to improve the safety of current and future mine hoists.

Language: en

Keywords

Fatal accidents; Fault tree; Hoist; Mining; PES; Risk analysis