Vehicle inspection apps for mine pre-starts: what makes the check worth trusting
A pre-start a supervisor can trust is done at the machine before it leaves the line-up, with any defect at the workshop by then. Four checks to run on paper or on any vehicle inspection app.
Answer summary
The first loads of a shift go out with the machines that passed their pre-start. A pre-start a supervisor can trust is done at the machine before it leaves the line-up. Any defect it finds is with the mechanics by then.
The first loads of a shift go out with the machines that passed their pre-start. A pre-start a supervisor can trust is done at the machine before it leaves the line-up. Any defect it finds is with the mechanics by then.
What the pre-start decides
Every shift starts with the line-up: who runs which machine, and which machines go to the face, the tip and the haul road. The pre-start sits between that plan and the first load. The operator walks round the machine, checks the tyres, brakes, lights, leaks and the rest of the list, reads the hours and signs.
A truck with a soft brake found at the pre-start stays parked, and a mechanic looks at it before the shift gets going. Missed at the pre-start, the same brake turns up later as a breakdown on the haul road, with the loader waiting and the trucks behind it queuing. The loads that truck would have hauled for the rest of the shift are lost.
South Africa's mine safety guidance builds the check into every mine's rules for these machines. The Department of Mineral Resources' guideline for the mandatory code of practice for trackless mobile machines, effective 31 August 2015, lists what the mine's code must describe. That includes the use of pre-use checklists to identify components critical for safe operation, and keeping completed checklists for at least three months. It also includes the conditions under which a machine may be used, with "go", "go but" and "no go" given as example options.
Where the paper book falls short
The paper book's weak points are where it gets filled in and how long each page takes to reach the workshop.
- The book gets filled in away from the machine: in the site office, in a bakkie, or after the shift from memory. Every box is ticked, and nobody can tell whether anyone walked round the machine.
- Hours get copied from the page before, so a reading that went backwards or jumped by a week of work goes unnoticed.
- A defect is written as "brakes", so the mechanic has to find the operator to ask what was wrong.
- A page reaches the workshop when the book is handed in, by which time the machine may have worked half a shift.
Four checks a supervisor can run on any pre-start
The first two checks show whether the pre-start was done at the machine before it left the line-up. The other two show what happened to the defect it found. They work on paper and on an app, and they are the questions to put to any vehicle inspection app before a site buys one.
The hours reading shows whether it was done at the machine
The reading has to come off the machine's own meter, and it has to follow on from the last one. A reading that goes backwards, or jumps further than the machine could have worked, means the form was filled in somewhere else or the meter needs attention.
The time shows whether it was done before the machine left the line-up
The check has to be signed before the machine leaves the line-up. A pre-start signed after the machine went to work tells the supervisor nothing about the start of the shift.
The defect has to be written so a mechanic can act on it
The operator names the part, says what is wrong with it, and adds a photo where words fall short. "Left rear tyre, cut in the sidewall" gives the mechanic a job to start on.
The defect has to reach the workshop before the machine leaves the line-up
A defect that makes the machine unsafe is a "no go", and the machine stays parked. It goes back to work once a mechanic has repaired or cleared the defect. The machine is then signed back as fit, in the way the mine's code of practice sets out. A lesser defect can be a "go but". It still needs a job card before the machine leaves, so the workshop can plan the repair around the shift instead of meeting it as a breakdown. How that job card is written and planned is the subject of the article on job cards for the mine workshop.
What to look for in a vehicle inspection app on a mine
On a mine the check happens at the line-up, often out of signal, and machines change hands between shifts. Look first for an app that works without signal and sends the pre-start once the phone is back in range. Machines should appear by the fleet number painted on them, with hours or kilometres counted the way each machine counts them. Each reading should sit against the last operator's.
A defect needs a way to reach the workshop as a job card, with the operator's words on it. At the line-up, the supervisor should see which machines have no pre-start yet. Completed checklists should stay easy to find months later, since the mine's code of practice has to cover keeping them for at least three months.
No app makes an operator look at a machine. The walk-round still depends on the operator, and on a supervisor who backs the operator when the answer is that the truck stays parked.
Diggy is one system for the whole field operation: production, machines, fuel, maintenance, parts and people. You get the answer straight away, with its source, so you can act before the money is spent. The pre-start is part of that, and the operator does it on the mobile app, which works without signal. Each hours reading is checked against the machine's last one, and a reading out of line is flagged. Each defect is also marked by how serious it is. A serious one opens a breakdown job card and alerts the mechanics straight away. A lesser one opens a maintenance job card and adds it to the mechanics' to-do list. This runs once the site has set up its defect classes. Diggy was built around AI from the start, by Cambridge engineers. It works across everything that is connected, which is why the answer comes straight away.