Innovation improves safety

Finding ways to become more safe at work and reach our goal of zero injuries is a key priority across Rio Tinto Coal Australia (RTCA).

Blair Athol Mine boilermaker apprentice Michael Ede recognised an opportunity to improve safety when aligning dragline pins.

Before Mr Ede's invention, employees were at risk of coming into contact with pinch points when manually aligning dragline pins.

Mr Ede designed a pin handler that removed the need for manual handling, allowing two maintainers to handle and align pins without placing their hands near pinch points.

"I wanted to eliminate the hazard, and my team was very responsive in helping me refine my prototypes and ideas," Mr Ede said.

Mr Ede travelled to Mount Thorley Warkworth to present his invention to the dragline forum, where RTCA employees regularly? get together to identify ways to improve dragline efficiency.

"It was great to see Michael being so proactive and recycling scrap metal to make his prototypes, and turn a negative situation, such as a lost time injury, into an innovation using his own initiative," Blair Athol Mine maintenance manager Tony Martyr said.

"Michael's invention just shows that by continuously looking for improvements, we can help eliminate hazards and become a safer business."