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Evolution: a permanent feature in mining security

The sole permanent feature of mining security systems is that they will always be in development.

The 'pull' comes from the stream of development of new solutions offering more sophisticated and refined functionality and the `push' comes from the mining sector's desire to maximise the benefits - on a variety of levels - that become possible through the implementation of the latest offerings.

According to Johann van Rooyen, branch manager Northwest Mining Division at Saco Systems, "Saco has been a preferred solutions provider for time and attendance (T&A) and access control (AC) systems for office and mining areas throughout the mines sector since 1975. It is amazing to think back to those original systems and to contemplate just how much the technology and the solutions have developed since those early days."

Mining companies are driven by a number of imperatives, such as compliance with new safety standards, combating fraud, responding to specific situations that arise, and ease of implementation and usage, to mention just a couple of considerations. These factors generate an ongoing cycle of evaluation within the mining sector regarding what is possible or desirable to achieve now, as opposed to last year's situation. This evaluation cycle frequently leads to the identification of new requirements that need to be implemented.

Some of the latest research highlights areas that are currently of interest to the mining sector:

* Improving AC at all working areas to ensure that employees only have access to the specific areas they are authorised to enter.

* Ensuring all employees living on mine accommodation are able to enjoy a safe and secure environment during their leisure hours.

* Implementing better control over short- and over-time hours worked at access points where shift control procedures are executed.

* Upgrading AC systems in such a manner that one of the most important mining safety requirements, that is 'Shaft Clear for Blasting' Procedures (to ensure all personnel have left the area about to be blasted), can be automatically and electronically executed with 100% compliance.

* Upgrading T&A systems to provide seamless integration into payroll systems. There is a strong requirement for data to be stored on a per shift, per day, per week and per month basis for each employee to enable the accurate calculation and reporting of employee salaries.

* Implementing a management and control system for monitoring and enforcing other safety issues relating to personnel working underground such as lamp issue, red ticket and competency certificates, with a view to improving risk management as well as ensuring compliance with mining safety regulations.

"In some cases, Saco has, over the years, developed the relationship with mining customers to the point where a project team, made up of both Saco Systems and mining company representatives, has been formed to assess requirements, design solutions and schedule implementation," comments van Rooyen. The Saco mining management team consists of Tommy Laubscher, Johann van Rooyen and Tjaart Venter.

Modern mining companies place a high value on their employees and, together with improved and extended mining safety legislation requirements, the ideal of a Zero Harm policy has become a vital component in the development and application of AC and T&A systems. In today's mining culture, changes are implemented in such a manner that all stakeholders are involved and that the advantages of any proposed implementation are clear to all concerned before any changes are introduced into the production environment.

Van Rooyen adds, "One of the most obvious trends in recent years has been a major swing towards utilising fingerprint biometric readers. Saco has recently implemented full Sagem-based biometric solutions that are used to regulate AC at processing plants with great success because this system can provide a greater degree of protection for valuable product and even more valuable employees. Currently, we still combine Sagem biometric readers with Saco Genius Smart Card readers, utilising contactless smartcards, for some applications, but as time goes by, we anticipate that biometrics will become standard throughout not only the mining sector but most other sectors as well. This hardware generates the data to drive Microsoft Windows-based applications that interface directly into SAP for development of payroll applications.

"Smooth implementation is a key requirement for any new or upgraded system," comments Van Rooyen, "as it is obviously extremely important to avoid disruption to normal operating procedure." Saco has developed an enviable reputation from this point of view that Van Rooyen attributes to: "Planning. Planning. Planning. I cannot put sufficient stress on the influence of detailed and thorough planning in achieving smooth and successful implementations.

The provision of adequate training of operational personnel is another key component in successful implementation in the mining sector, particularly with regard to the successful registration of employees on biometric-based systems. "It is not that it is difficult to achieve 100% successful rates on registrations and activations using biometric readers but, as it is a new and unfamiliar process for employees, there is an obvious need to ensure that everybody understands exactly how to use this sophisticated technology," explains Van Rooyen. Saco has also recently enhanced its software to cater for biometric inputs.

Training in the enrolment process is of particular importance when registering employees involved in heavy manual labour, such as in the mining industry, as their fingerprints may have been damaged or eroded because of the nature of their work. "This is a major reason why Saco prefer to use Sagem biometric readers, as Sagem utilise the largest number of minutia points - the places on a fingerprint where ridges split or divide and which distinguish one print from all others - to create a 'template' that is stored to identify each employee. It is also important to train every employee in the proper placement of their finger on the reader to ensure activating the device correctly at all times," explains Van Rooyen.

Another contributing factor in Saco's success in the mining sector is that great care is taken to ensure that, at the end of each implementation round, all the goals set out in the requirements document have been met. "You could say that the devil is in the detail, and this is one area where Saco's involvement in the project teams that drive the developments pays off - we always undertake a post-implementation review to ensure that everything we set out to accomplish has, in fact, been achieved," comments Van Rooyen.

Future development focus within the mining sector currently includes efforts to extend the technological lifespan of hardware components and, as ever, new ways to improve security for both employees and for the valuable product they produce.

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