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How Gold Fields’ South Deep gold mine embraced digitization to improve its safety culture, and achieved ISO 45001 certification in record time
Technology Category
- Functional Applications - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP)
- Functional Applications - Remote Monitoring & Control Systems
Applicable Industries
- Mining
Applicable Functions
- Discrete Manufacturing
- Quality Assurance
Use Cases
- Predictive Maintenance
- Remote Asset Management
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
South Deep gold mine recognized that its way of managing health and safety was outdated and inadequate. Manually managing spreadsheets for example, posed many problems including difficulty with analysis, standardizing data throughout the company, and unsuitability in terms of formatting for reporting purposes. It required a lot of resources to manage, was time-consuming and inefficient, and was ultimately deemed to be unsustainable. South Deep thus desired an integrated system for environment, health, and safety – a digital system that would be able to centralize all EHS information, and provide the company’s management and leadership team with the information which they needed to gain rapid insights into the mine’s health and safety information, as well as save time compiling the necessary reports.
About The Customer
Gold Fields is a mid-tier globally diversified gold producer with nine operating mines across four regions, including South Deep Mine located in South Africa. South Deep consists of two separate shaft systems – Twin Shafts and South Shaft – which are fully integrated. The mine employs approximately 4 500 employees and contractors, and has been built to extract one of the largest known gold deposits in the world, a mineral reserve of 32,8 million ounces - roughly equivalent to almost 100 000 gold bullion bars! South Deep recognizes the potential impact its mining activities can have on the sustainable development of its people, its communities, and the environment within which it operates. Sustainable development is an integral part of the company and how it operates its business, and the company’s ultimate objective is to ensure that the mine undertakes its activities in a manner that is safe, responsible, ethical, and profitable.
The Solution
South Deep sought a software company with established international operations, and after some consideration, implemented IsoMetrix’s Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) solutions. Subsequent to implementing IsoMetrix’s EHS software, South Deep is now able to easily and intuitively extract the information required to formulate customized reports. As all information is centralized and standardized within the secure IsoMetrix system, as well as fully transparent and auditable, the South Deep management team now reports to the board with surety and confidence, knowing that its information is accurate, relevant, and complete, with no missing gaps. The ability to assign accountability and responsibility to health and safety actions ensures that a company can show clear evidence of addressing any issues in this regard. The Central Action Manager functionality within IsoMetrix software oversees this crucial operational aspect, and enables organizations to direct and manage all EHSrelated actions.
Operational Impact
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