Published in the December 2006 Australia’s Mining Monthly

Australian mining operations are among the best in the world when it comes to safety. Among the many machines keeping individuals out of harm’s way are those that transport them to and from bigger machines.

Four-wheel drive vehicles working on minesites have a tough life and spend far more time operating in dangerous, dirty and extreme environments than their urban counterparts.

This dictates the need for a tough standard vehicle to start with, and sometimes the need for upgrades to make them safer and more durable. One of the key safety drivers for four-wheel drives in the mining industry has been BHP Billiton’s Fatal Risk Control Protocol.

As well as safety improvements, upgrades to four-wheel drives headed for mines typically comprise modifications to make them more reliable to minimise down time and able to travel further between fuel stops (with long range fuel tanks).

But not all four-wheel drives destined for Australian minesites get this kind of treatment. In fact most receive very minimal modifications.

Toyota WA spokesman Lindsay Taylor told Australia’s Mining Monthly that many of the LandCruisers sent to minesites were standard specification vehicles owned by rental companies, which were then leased by miners.

He said mining companies tended to lease four-wheel drives so they could utilise their capital on other things.

“South Perth Four Wheel Drive would be the biggest [four-wheel drive leasing] player [in WA],” Taylor said. “They relatively recently opened a big new workshop in Mackay to service the coal mining industry in Queensland.

“So they don’t all go out with a Hamersley Iron name on them.”

Airbag opening

In January 2005, BHPB introduced its Fatal Risk Control Protocol, which was developed following a review of its past fatalities and significant incidents.

That protocol included a list of requirements regarding the use of four-wheel drive vehicles and, in particular, the requirement for all four-wheel drive vehicles to have rollover protection and a driver’s side airbag.

This could signal an opening in the market for Nissan, because its Patrol will soon be available with twin airbags, whereas at the time of going to print, the LandCruiser 78 Series was not – although driver and passenger SRS (Supplementary Restraint System) airbags are standard on all HiLux, HiAce and Commuter models.

Nissan spokesman Karl Gehling told AMM the company was planning to push “quite heavily” into the mining market with the Patrol wagon, Patrol cab chassis and the Navara, spearheaded by the Patrol’s recent specification upgrade to dual front airbags.

“We expect there to be a shift across to Patrol,” Gehling said. “Cars started arriving in October, but we had orders going back a couple of months. I guess people are looking to move into them partly because safety regulations require companies to provide a certain level of safety in their vehicles for their staff.

“It [the issue of airbags in small mining vehicles] has been something they’ve talked about for the last couple of years, but [lately] has become more of a must-have.”

Mitsubishi’s media communications manager, Kevin Taylor, said Mitsubishi had little penetration into the mining industry.

He said the only related involvement of Mitsubishi vehicles in the mining industry was at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, where a few Tritons and Pajeros have been bought by mining management staff as novated lease-type vehicles. But he said none of those were for working in the field.

“Toyota has done a very thorough job on providing the onsite parts and service operations over many years, and it is difficult to break that hold,” Taylor said.

Off-road vehicles have tended to be the last to receive luxury and safety features, with conventional sedans often getting items such as standard CD players, contoured seating and airbags years before their four-wheel drive and commercial counterparts.

But times are changing.

“There has been a push in recent times for comfortable seating – with lumbar supports and the like; air bags; and ABS as standard items in any vehicles purchased by mining companies,” Mitsubishi’s Taylor said. “Mitsubishi does have plans to try and get more of this business.

“We are currently undertaking exploratory work to ensure we can provide the correct spec vehicles for their requirements. It is not so much the spec of the vehicle itself, but the aftermarket requirements such as lights.”

To that end, Taylor said Mitsubishi was working with an aftermarket supplier towards compiling a list of these requirements.

Goliath growling

So Toyota is still the Goliath of the mining industry’s light vehicle market, and looks set to stay that way for some time, primarily because of the ability of LandCruisers to maintain reliability in very harsh conditions, and their relatively low cost of ownership.

Testament to this is mining contractor Barminco, which operates a fleet of more than 300 Toyota vehicles, most of which are confined to underground duties. And nickel miner Minara Resources runs a fleet of about 70 Toyota vehicles – all LandCruisers and HiLuxes – at its Murrin Murrin operation in Western Australia.

Looking to the bigger players, BHPB and Toyota set up an alliance whereby BHPB’s fleets of HiLux, Commuter, Prado, LandCruiser and sundry passenger vehicles were all delivered, serviced and maintained by the Toyota dealer network.

BHPB said the alliance had vastly improved the quantity and quality of communication between the two organisations.

It said regular stakeholder meetings, quarterly reviews and site visits by Toyota engineers had helped communicate its ongoing vehicle requirements, and much of this information is passed on to Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan to aid the continuous improvement of current models and for future model planning.

Other safety features such as ABS (anti-skid braking systems), traction control and ESP (electronic stability programs) that are more common on road cars are usually not desirable on vehicles that are used primarily on loose surfaces, because they can actually lengthen stopping distances and impede progress.

Hence, demand from mining industry customers for these systems has, going by reports from the major manufacturers, been low.

Rollover protection, in the form of roll bars installed inside the cab, can be a double-edged sword. Where they could provide vital protection in the event of a rollover, there is also the possibility of the occupants hitting their heads against them (where they would otherwise hit the soft headlining of the cab) while driving on rough terrain or in a rollover.

BHPB also said it had implemented a change management process to accompany all light vehicle modifications. This process can be applied to changes or modifications to a vehicle’s engine, suspension and other mechanicals, body, wheels and tyres, load carrying capacity and anything that affects a vehicle’s crashworthiness, such as the addition of a bullbar.