Founded in 2008, Kalgoorlie-based HMR Drilling Services is a precision exploration, diamond and Geotech drilling operation. With a management team that, combined, boasts more than 65 years of mining industry experience, the company delivers timely, cost effective and small footprint drilling services.
“We have a couple of surface diamond drill rigs, but right now we’re heavily focused on underground diamond drilling projects. These types of projects account for about 90 per cent of our work,” said Kevin Petersen, HMR Drilling Services’ Business Development and Innovation Manager.
“While we operate all over Australia, at present most of our work takes place in Western Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania.”
HMR has around 170 employees and Kevin explained that number includes just 10 office staff.
“The bulk of our employees work out in the field as drillers, drill assistants, supervisors, drill fitters and light vehicle fitters,” he said.
“For us, one of the main requirements was the ability to handle employee induction and training. WHS MONITOR™ covered that really well.”
Kevin Petersen, HMR Drilling Services’ Business Development and Innovation Manager
Perhaps more so than any other industry, across the mining sector there is a deep understanding of the importance of workplace health and safety compliance. When asked what particular Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) challenges drilling companies face, Kevin pointed to risks associated with the use of rotating equipment, mobile plant, stored energy and manual handling tasks.
“In addition to the risk that these hazards pose, our employees also operate in hot and humid underground environments, which in itself poses a risk of heat related illness,” he said.
“There have been advances within the industry regarding autonomous and semi-autonomous rod handling, but these advances only address certain aspects of manual handling associated with diamond drilling. We are therefore still heavily reliant on our systems and processes to ensure the safety of our people.”
Addressing these issues is one of HMR Drilling Services’ top priorities. “We are committed to ensuring that each and every one of our employees makes it home safely each shift. Subsequently, we’re committed to ensuring we meet all WHS compliance obligations,” Kevin said.
How HMR use WHS Monitor
To do this, HMR Drilling Services uses WHS MONITOR™, a modular, cloud-based WHS compliance management software system, designed to ensure that organisations are able to meet their compliance obligations.
“Before WHS Monitor our compliance management was all paper-based. While everyone was doing their best to track and record everything, nothing was centralised,” said Kevin.
The company clearly needed a change.
“The first step was establishing all our systems and processes and implementing the appropriate training. Once that was up to speed, the next phase was to find the right centralised system to manage it all. We wanted a user-friendly solution that satisfied all our requirements and that we could use out in the field,” said Kevin.
“For us, one of the main requirements was the ability to handle employee induction and training. WHS MONITOR™ covered that really well. Another attractive factor was the configurability of the system. The ability to setup all of HMR’s processes into the system was a big drawcard. That combination of configurability, functionality and value was what sold us.”
The Modules
WHS MONITOR™ comprises 120 unique, integrated modules across eight core units: Risk Management, Incident Management, Asset Management, Contractor Management, Policies and Procedures, HR Safety Management, Chemical Management, Hazard Registers.
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