Ventyx, an ABB company, completed its annual Mining Executive Insights survey in late 2012. According to the firm, the survey represents the views of 374 mining companies. Most respondents were C-level executives, vice presidents or directors across different mining sectors, including coal, gold, copper, iron ore, zinc and nickel.
Respondents identified their current priorities by level of importance as follows:
- ensuring workforce safety (31%);
- managing capital projects (25%);
- maximizing production effectiveness (21%);
- ensuring equipment operates reliably and predictably (8%).
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| PRNewsFoto/Ventyx |
“Our research shows the mining industry remains cautious
about the strength of global economic recovery. In response, many mining
organizations have begun looking inward, especially in regard to the labor
market,” says Bas Mutsaers, Ventyx’s senior vice president of mining industry
solutions. “In doing so, they have shifted their focus from finding qualified
workers anywhere, at any cost to ensuring the workforce they currently have is
efficient, well-informed and safe.”
“At the same time,
these companies aren’t seeing a tradeoff between worker safety and
profitability,” he adds. “In other words, the same technologies and best
practices that improve safety also improve performance and efficiency.”
According to Ventyx, the study demonstrates how closely
mining executives correlate worker safety and mine productivity. When asked to
identify their primary safety initiatives, 64% of respondents selected “development
of skills, best work practices and situation-based decision making.”
Mutsaers says mobile and other new technologies allow
companies to change their traditional approach to training and skill
development. “There is definitely an opportunity for mining organizations to
leverage emerging technologies to transform how they educate and empower their
workers to reduce safety incidents and improve efficiencies.”