Speaking at the recent eighth Annual Longwall Conference, Joy manager of engineering Colin Parrish said the old processes used for risk assessment had been seen as cumbersome and as having a lot of variation.

The new risk assessment processes under development aim to meet the company’s zero harm philosophy, but are also designed to be simpler and more accessible for operations around the world.

An integral part of the new processes is the establishment of an online hazards register.

“What we are developing is a system whereby the hazards register sits and is accessible to an engineer anywhere within the Joy system, they can pull it up and see it,” Parrish said.

He said the hazards, linked by product type, could then be fed into design processes.

Ultimately the new risk assessment processes are aimed to deliver to customers a risk management plan for each machine that will include details from the hazard register and Joy’s risk assessments.

The plan will suggest controls for the mine’s consideration, detail the assumed controls in place and list hazards with a medium-level or greater category of risk.

The plan will also list independent protection layers and safety-related control functions, which will be safety integrity level-rated.

Joy’s new risk assessment processes are designed to meet various recognised international safety standards.

Training for the new procedures is already underway while the new hazards register is expected to be finished by year-end.