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In a real David and Goliath battle, a tiny Lightning Ridge miner challenged the giants of the mining world last Sunday at the Annual Mining Industry Occupational Health and Safety Conference at Terrigal on September 1 2002.
Lawrie Cree and Ian Harrison entered the Annual Innovations Awards in competition with the thousands of employees and billions of dollars of mining giants like BHP Billiton, PowerCoal and Riotinto.
They were competing to see who had developed the best and most innovative solution to a mine safety problem. BHP Billiton submitted a coal mine escape system costing hundreds of thousands of dollars while Lawrie and Ian put up the protective guard they’d had built for just $500 after Ian had nearly been killed in a roof fall.
He was operating his mechanical digger in April this year. It was just like the diggers operating in most claims around the area. The digging loosened a roof fault and Ian was knocked to the floor by a cascade of rock and clay.
With a large boulder across his throat, Ian was just able to croak out a call for help to Lawrie who was working nearby. If lawrie had not been in the mine at the time, Ian would probably have died of suffocation.
They decided the risk was too great so they stopped mining for five weeks while they developed a protective frame in which a digger operator can work.
Nearly a quarter of all injuries on the opal fields occur in incidents like the one that trapped Ian.
Some miners have been killed while operating diggers and others have spent several months in hospital recovering from their injuries.
In developing their protective structure, Lawrie and Ian said they used Hazard Risk Assessment as is taught in the Lightning Ridge Opal Miners Course, run by the NSW Department of Mineral Resources, and the experience gained from a combined total of 48 years of opal mining experience.
They also spoke to other miners, local manufacturers of mining equipment and followed up on an earlier but unsuccessful attempt to provide protection from the hazards of operating a digger.
Lawrie and Ian say that the protection device they designed is, in mine safety language, “fit for purpose” because it:
*protects the operator from rock falls
and side roll ins,*is flexible enough to negotiate tight corners in drives,
*is simple and easy to attach,
*does not interfere with the operator’s vision or comfort,
*can be taken into mine workings through a one meter wide shaft,
*does not interfere with the normal operation of the digger,
*allows the digger to be reversed without removing the protection,
*does not affect digger stability.
Within the first few weeks of being fitted, the protection structure saved Ian from being hit by a small fall of stone.
How did they go? Their presentation was met with the loudest applause from the 400 mining representatives present and the judging panel agreed they had developed an innovative, practical, efficient and economical solution to a mine safety problem.
The judging panel awards one only prize and three highly commended awards.
There were 27 entries from companies such as BHP Billiton and one entry from small mining, Lawrie and Ian’s, for which they were awarded a highly commended.
Still overwhelmed by their amazing success Ian Harrison and Lawrie Cree returned to the Ridge grappling with the celebrity status that accompanied the receipt of this award in such prestigious company.
“Our efforts have been made on behalf of Lightning Ridge,” said exuberant Laurie Cree.
“It has been very much an incentive of David Howell Department Mineral Resources, who made an incredible contribution to our presentation.
“I think that we can attribute our success to a number of factors. We were the only private representatives, we were unpaid and we were representing and promoting our industry and town involved in something other than coal,” said Lawrie.
“They loved us, loved our presentation and had us winners before the announcement,” added Ian Harrison.
Our industry was presented as the proactive responsible group that it is and we took the opportunity to remind those attending that opal is their National Gemstone and encouraged them to make a purchase..
“We believe that we complemented each other and are proud to have received this award on behalf of Lightning Ridge,” said Mr Cree.
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