A whopping R1,200,000 (approximately AUD $120,000)! That’s how much Downer’s tyre management business, Otraco, has now contributed to helping Anglo American Platinum to build resilient communities at its Mogalakwena Complex in South Africa.

Thanks to the Hunter Safety Awards for announcing Otraco as a Finalist in the 2019 Hunter Safety Awards for the innovative Otraco 3arm^® Support Tool.

In December 2018, Downer’s tyre management business Otraco, achieved the significant safety milestone of one million hours lost time injury free (LTI) across Rio Tinto’s 17 mine sites in Western Australia. The Rio Tinto equivalent of the Downer LTI classification is lost day injury free (LDI).

Achieved over a four-year period, the result is testament to the focus and dedication of over 120 tyre technicians, support teams and leaders delivering world’s best practice across 17 Rio Tinto mine sites.

Otraco operations manager, Chad Hovell, said that the result was underpinned by a company-wide commitment to maintaining Zero Harm coupled with an individual focus by all team members to keep themselves and their workmates safe.

“We have a long and proud history with Rio Tinto which stretches over 20 years with the iron ore mines in Western Australia and more than 30 years with the Argyle Diamond Mine. Importantly, our length of tenure has allowed our teams to develop a very deep and detailed understanding of the uniqueness of each mine site as well as a solid working knowledge of Rio Tinto’s operational requirements. We could not have achieved this milestone without the shared commitment to building successful partnerships which is a fundamental value within Rio Tinto, Otraco and Downer,” said Chad.

Reflecting on the length of Otraco’s successful working relationship with Rio Tinto, Chad identified some interesting statistics which highlighted the size and scope of Otraco’s work. These statistics include:

“When we analysed our work on Rio Tinto mine sites over the LTI/LDI period we found some remarkable statistics including the fact that our combined teams have changed over 52,500 tyres, implemented 561 innovations and HSE initiatives and conducted over 665,000 tyre pressure checks,” said Chad.

Downer’s General Manager, Mining Services, Milan Pavelic, said that he was very proud of the team in Western Australia. He also noted a similar milestone having been achieved by Otraco’s operation in Chile earlier in the same year.

“Congratulations to the team for demonstrating an exemplary focus on safety. As leaders we set strategic and operational objectives to keep our people safe. We put programs in place to help our teams but at the end of the day it’s our onsite tyre technicians that deliver the work 24/7. On behalf of Otraco and Downer I congratulate our Western Australian team on achieving this milestone,” said Milan.

Pictured: Otraco teams onsite at Rio Tinto’s Marandoo mine in Western Australia. 

Always looking for a better way to safely and cost-effectively improve tyre management for off-the-road (OTR) vehicles, Otraco has released the new Otraco 3arm^® Support Tool.

Otraco Operations Manager, Greg Glennon, recently presented at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference held on the Gold Coast, Australia.