The Task

This case study explores a safety incident involving a water truck that overturned at a mine site. The incident resulted in minor injuries, equipment damage, and operational disruptions. The investigation utilised Haul Road Explorer (HRE) software to streamline the process and identify the root cause.

Challenge

A safety incident occurred when a water truck drove off the road and overturned at a mine site. The operator reported they were swerving to avoid another vehicle, and a braking issue occurred prior to the incident. As a result, work in the area was halted until the cause of the incident was found.

Traditional Investigation Timeline

Traditional investigations of these types of incidents can be time-consuming and involve:

• • Gathering information from witnesses and reviewing CCTV footage.

• • Analysing data from the truck’s dataloggers, including suspension pressures, payload information, and operator inputs.

• • Physical inspection of the incident area.

This process can take hours, delaying production and the implementation of corrective actions.

The Solution

How HRE Expedited the Investigation

HRE was utilised to validate the operator’s report and to understand what preventative measures were required to ensure this incident does not reoccur. Steps included:

• • Analysis of truck alarms: HRE was able to plot truck health data, indicating potential truck faults that may have led to this event. The analysis did not determine any issues with the truck, and the brakes appeared to be fully operational.

• • Replay of vehicle activity: The replay feature in HRE enabled the operation to play back site-wide vehicle activity at the time of the incident. This highlighted that there were no other vehicles in the vicinity of the accident at the time of the event.
  • Operator Techniques and Alarms: Using the data logger tool in HRE, the site could playback the second-by-second data produced by the truck’s sensors to see operator activities leading up to the incident. The playback found:

    • • No application of the brakes in the moments leading up to the crash.
      • No attempt was made to slow down.

• • Distraction Systems: The site’s equipment did not have any onboard distraction safety systems installed. If available, the operation would have been able to monitor the resulting data in HRE.

The analysis of the data within HRE ultimately determined that the information supplied by the operator was factually incorrect and not supported by the data. After investigation into the operator’s working hours, it became clear that he had been working significant overtime and the incident was likely the result of fatigue.

HRE’s functionalities helped investigators narrow down the likely root causes of the incident within minutes rather than hours.

As a result of determining the root causes of the incident, the operation was able to implement targeted corrective actions.

Root Cause: Operator fatigue due to excessive overtime.

Corrective Actions:

• • Review of overtime policies to reduce fatigue incidents.

• • Modification of the incident investigation process to include HRE as a key tool.

• • Installation of distraction detection systems, to monitor operator alertness and fatigue.

The Results

As a result, the site was able to conduct the root cause incident investigation analysis in less than one hour, and the water truck was returned to service relatively quickly. This was critical for the safety of other parts of the fleet due to high levels of dust on site.

• • Reduced Downtime: HRE’s expedited investigation minimised downtime.

• • Enhanced Safety: Rapid intervention prevented future incidents and improved overall safety.

• • Improved Training: The incident resulted in training programmes to address potential knowledge gaps and to equip operators with better techniques for handling difficult situations.

Summary

This case study demonstrates the value of HRE in rapid safety incident root cause analysis. By streamlining investigations and enabling fast corrective actions, HRE can improve safety, reduce downtime, and enhance operational efficiency. The incident also highlights the importance of implementing distraction detection systems to monitor operator alertness and prevent fatigue-related accidents.