Going deep to improve drill safety

Sandvik Mining collaborated with Barrick Gold equipment operators to evaluate a prototype of the Sandvik DR461i rotary drill rig at Barrick’s Cortez mine in Nevada, US.

Published: 9 June 2015

Sandvik Mining engineers and Barrick operators looked at the drill’s safety features and recommended enhancements before the product launched globally in February 2015. The results of this process, formally known as EMESRT Design Evaluation for EME Procurement (EDEEP), were presented in November 2014 at the Global Health & Safety Excellence for Mining Forum in Las Vegas.

“The EDEEP process allows Sandvik engineers to see through the eyes of our customers and may help us to identify potential risks that are related to operator safety,” says product safety manager Darlene Dutcher.

As part of the EDEEP programme, Barrick personnel conducted a risk assessment of tasks required of the Sandvik DR461i rig. They ran the drill in day-to-day operations, and as each step of the drilling process was completed they identified potential hazards from their perspective.