We recently interviewed Chair of the HSE working group, Alison Stewart from Komatsu for insights into the groups progress and what we can expect from them as members of CMEIG.
What is the CMEIG Health & Safety working group?
CMEIG has been operating health and safety initiatives for a few years under the Engineering Group banner but considered that this is an area that demands attention in its own right. Ensuring the safety of our employees and those who use our equipment is a value shared by us all. The group consists of HSE professionals, general management and technical members.
What are the principles guiding you?
The underlying principle is that safety is not an area of intellectual property and that by sharing learnings we can improve outcomes for all members. This is particularly relevant for our associate members who may not have a dedicated HSE resource.
An additional principle is that by respecting the sensitivity of data provided and presenting it in a consolidated form we can gather information that is instructive to the betterment of the industry as a whole.
What can we expect from the HSE group?
We currently have two projects that we are focusing on:
- The first is providing consistent injury type definitions and collating injury data across members to present in a consolidated form. While the information to date is consistent with what we would expect, this is a valuable exercise as it enables us to prioritise our efforts in an objective manner.
- The second project being led by Chris Higgins from Hitachi is a paper on working at heights. This paper has two objectives, the first being to provide an easy to access summary of standards, regulations and codes of practice applicable for construction & mining equipment when working at heights. Additionally, the paper will seek to communicate industry best practice and suggestions for managing risks when working at heights.