What Is It?
The mining industry has long recognised that tracking people and equipment is a valuable thing. But most mines don’t sustain a “tracking for the sake of tracking” system for very long. Be it open pit or underground, mine evacuation and rescue adds not only a purpose but, also, a positive return on investment for a RAMJACK Personnel and Equipment Tracking System.
How Does It Work?
Most mining countries – and mine owners – mandate mine evacuation plans, policies and procedures and require operations to practice them several times per year. While important, these practice drills represent costly stoppages in production. Shortening the time it takes to make everyone safe during an evacuation drill not only lowers the cost of the production disruption, but it also will save lives when an evacuation is actually required. A Personnel and Equipment Tracking System is the cornerstone of any such Evacuation and Rescue System.
Many mines hesitate to invest in mine Evacuation Systems due to the low frequency of the practice drills, however most mines evacuate their mine every day when blasting is done. Whether surface or underground, being safe during a blast means, “staying away”. Hence, RAMJACK recommends that mines “graduate” both their systems and practices to be used for blast clearing as well as for their regular evacuation drills.
Additional features can be added to basic tracking technology including the ability for the miner to send a distress call as well as automatic “man down” signalling.
Why Does It Matter?
Personnel and Equipment Tracking Systems are core to any evacuation program and – when implemented correctly – can be leveraged to reduce the cost or practice drills, minimise downtime following blasting and, most importantly, save lives.
At Ramjack Technology Solutions, we offer evacuation & rescue systems to clients all around the world.