Fatigue-management advocacy company Fatigue Sharks and technology developer Prism Services have welcomed the Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR’s) code of practice (COP) on risk-based fatigue management, which requires miners to compile and implement a code to monitor and take fatigue into account as part of their health and safety measures.

Fatigue Sharks CEO and Prism Services consultant Dr Doug Potter tells Mining Weekly that the two companies offer the Prism software and programmes that help mining companies implement fatigue monitoring strategies to ensure the safety of their employees and properties.

“As Fatigue Sharks, we have been working on changing mining companies’ perception of fatigue for years, and we really appreciate the DMR’s regulations that require miners to take fatigue seriously,” he states.

Potter points out that the two companies also help build fatigue centres at mine sites, where employees can rest and recover before going back to work. Such a centre has been built at JSE-listed Kumba Iron Ore’s Northern Cape-based Kolomela mine.

Prism fatigue software is also used at the Kolomela mine to monitor employees’ fatigue levels and inform them when they need to take actions to mitigate fatigue, Prism president Jeff Sease tells Mining Weekly.

The software captures and analyses real-time fatigue data from every employee, predicting when their fatigue levels will increase, and provides instant feedback on workers’ fatigue risk. It also immediately notifies a worker’s supervisor when high fatigue levels are reached.

Further, the system enables management to review real-time and historical fatigue analysis categorised according to employee and department.

The software also includes various countermeasures and enables fatigued workers to select, complete and document their chosen countermeasure, with minimal disruption to their shift.

In addition, depending on the nature of employees’ commute to and from work, the Prism software calculates what a worker’s fatigue risk will be on the way home and has an automated worker-level tracking and notification functionality.

Sease notes that plans are also under way to modify the Prism software for use in underground operations. He says Prism Services, in partnership with other technology specialists, is working on technology that will make a signal available underground.

Fatigue-Management Awareness
Potter, who is a medical doctor by profession, relocated from the US to South Africa with his family about five years ago, after noting that there was a gap in managing fatigue and acknowledging it as a health hazard in South Africa.

Potter works with several organisations that advocate healthy eating, exercise and rest for workers in the mining industry, noting that the Fatigue Sharks programme incorporates a dietary plan for employees to ensure that they get the correct nutrients.

He also runs several workshops across the country on fatigue management. The latest was held in March, in Johannesburg, and focused on implementing the DMR’s COP regulations.

Sease says the two companies also manage several training courses in the Northern Cape on good nutrition and on following a healthy lifestyle in conjunction with the Department of Basic Education. The companies have also published books on healthy living that are used at primary schools in the same province. The books are published in English, Afrikaans and seTswana.

Fatique Sharks also produces games that teach children about healthy eating and fatigue.

Fatigue Sharks:

Website:  http://www.fatiguesharksusa.com/
Contact:  Doug Potter - +2772 327 7919

Prism Predicts:
Website:  http://www.prismpredicts.com/
Contact:  +1 303 840 7477 (ext 1139)