Principles of Mine Haul Road Design and Construction Assignment

Assignment Task

Purpose

This Standard Operating Procedure defines design, construction, and maintenance protocols and responsibilities to ensure all personnel who operate mobile equipment at Solomon Mine, are able to operate and interact in a safe and controlled manner.

Scope

Described mandatory design, construction, and maintenance obligations are relevant to traffic management. Whether directly or indirectly employed by Fortescue, there is an expectation all personnel engaged in any form of work comply with the requirements of this Procedure. Availability to Fortescue personnel and contracting partners will ensure equal application of standards.

Safety

General duty of care applies to all stakeholders from systems design, construction of mobile equipment and control centres, mine planning to accommodate mobile autonomous fleet, commissioning of systems, implementation, operation, and maintenance, to achieve the desired safety outcomes for surface operations.

Risk Management

All Fortescue employees, contractors and visitors at Solomon Mine are required to comply with the minimum standards outlined in 100-ST-SA-1000 Major Hazard Control Standards. Risk Assessments annual revision is in conjunction with an annual internal audit.

Verification of Competency

All personnel involved in the design, construction and maintenance of mine roads shall receive training and information to gain awareness, understanding, and the appropriate level of competency necessary to complete tasks safely and correctly. All personnel shall be conversant with legislative obligations, requirements of the Traffic Management Plan, this and associated Standard Operating Procedures (Table 13: Related Publications)

Road Shoulder

Mine roads must be designed and constructed to appropriately address the risk of a vehicle accidently leaving the roadway. Vertical (>0.5 metre) drop-offs along the road edge or a steep or sustained shoulder grade, requires one or more of the following controls:

• A suitable bund wall (or other physical barrier) be constructed in the affected area.
• Delineators and/or signage erected to highlight the potential hazard.

Structural And Functional Design Phase

Structural design centres on road ‘strength’ to support SME wheel loads over the road design life without excessive maintenance. Whereas, functional design centres on wearing course selection, and sheeting (or surfacing) materials reliant on a choice that minimises the rate of degeneration, or rolling resistance increase, in the road surface.

Maintenance Design Phase

Maintenance design is centred on identifying the optimal frequency of maintenance (routine grading) for each section of mine road in a network, thus maintenance can be planned, scheduled and prioritised for optimal road performance and minimum total (vehicle operating and road maintenance) costs across Solomon Mine.

Managing Change to Traffic Flow

Construction of, or changes to roads, intersections, or traffic control signs that result in a change to primary traffic flow must be risk assessed, approved and communicated in accordance with the Change Management process prior to undertaking any works or changes.

In addition to the aforementioned process, a survey prior to opening a new intersection to regular traffic flow the intersection is required, an Intersection Review form completed and Quarry Manager approval. Minor changes (e.g. closing secondary roads with bund walls or cones, establishing minor access tracks within the pit that do not intersect SME roads and minor modifications during road maintenance activities) that do not result in a change to primary traffic flow, shall where required, be communicated in an appropriate forum to personnel in the affected work area.

Dust Control

The loss of road material fines (dust) can have economic, health, safety, and environmental implications. Loss of fines also has an effect on the road surface, resulting in earlier deterioration due to the increased permeability of the material and increased exposure of coarser materials. Dust suppression shall be in the form of introducing water to the road surface on a regular basis in highly sensitive and active areas.

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