14 Mining Constru C tion 1 2013 Q It is often said that the mining and construction industries ar e saf er no w than ev er bef or e Do y ou a gr ee A Absolutel y Great impro v ements ha v e been made in man y dif ferent areas and the statistics suggest that the number of acci dents and lost time injuries are in decline But that doesn t mean w e can relax Safety is not something to be focused on no w and ag ain or w hene v er it seems appropriate It is a ne v er ending process based on a desire for continuous impro v ement At the same time the r ules and re gulations go v er ning safety are changing all the time a n d b e c o m i n g m o r e a n d m o r e d e m a n d ing so the focus on safety is no w stronger than e v er Q Who is r esponsib le f or the pr o gr ess that has been made so f ar A A lot of the credit must go to the mining companies The y ha v e been the dri v ers of t he w or k in g e n v ir o n me n t a n d h a v e m a d e enor mous contrib utions to safety I think the people w ho w ork for these companies ha v e a lot to thank them for At the same time man y of these companies are inter na tional w hich means the y ha v e been ab le to implement good w orking practices around the globe Global equipment suppliers lik e Atlas Copco ha v e also pla y ed an impor tant role through the de v elopment of safety focused product design Q What Atlas Copco pr oducts ha v e made a big dif f er ence to saf ety A Remote controlled equipment rod hand ling systems that eliminate hea vy lifting drill rig cabins that gi v e allround visibil ity there are just too man y to mention One p roduct w hich is getting a lo t of atten tion latel y is the Scaletec a mechanized rig w hich eliminates manual scaling w hich is one of the most hazardous jobs in under g round rock e xca v ation Q What priority does Atlas Copco giv e to saf ety toda y A Safety gets top priority here It is a w a y of life a mindset that per meates e v er y thing w e do No meeting in v olving product design training or ser vice and maintenance tak es place without safety issues being an inte g ral par t of the discussion In this w a y safety is par t of Atlas Copco s DN A Our policies are strict and w e constantl y stri v e to achie v e the highest standar ds for our products and for the people w ho use them and ser vice them Q What s the bigg est issue that needs to be addr essed A That s not an easy question to ans w er Health and safety is such a huge subject and there are impro v ements to be made at e v e r y l e v e l Of course as a manuf acturer of equipment that will be used b y human beings our frst duty is to ensure that the y are as safe as possib le Secondl y w e do e v er ything in our po w er to mak e sure that the y are used cor rectl y w hich means emphasizing safety in all our instr uction manuals training courses and customer seminars and still it is not enough W e also ha v e to mak e sure that safety is constantl y in the spotlight so that it remains at the fore front of product de v elopment Q Atlas Copco cele br ates its 140th jubile e this y ear Will the ev ent be mar k ed b y highlighting its saf ety r ecor d A Throughout its histor y safety and the w orking en vironment has been a priority at Atlas Copco T oda y it is stronger than e v er and is an ongoing and natural par t of t h e w a y w e w o r k H o w e v e r t h i s y e a r w e will be intensifying our ef for ts to empha size the impor tance of personal safety in our contacts with our customers W e w ant to raise the a w areness of ho w personal safety impacts on producti vity Ev en though the accident statistics seem positi v e man y incidents are not repor ted and there are still man y countries w here safety is still unsatis f actor y and w here producti vity is lo w Q What obstacles pr ev ent personal saf ety fr om being impr o v ed A One of the main prob lems is communica tion and a w areness If w e are to succeed In the hazardous worlds of mining and construction safety is never taken for granted MC talks to Anna Eklind for a status report on the safety challenge s A FE t Y Insight On