A system safety approach provides an overview of the overall effectiveness of the safety controls that extends beyond the machines and can be a useful qualitative tool for operations when assessing the overall safety of their systems. This type of systems approach is especially important as highly autonomous and highly integrated solutions evolve.
In 2021, GMG published the System Safety for Autonomous Mining White Paper, an introductory overview of some system safety concepts to consider when introducing autonomous systems in mining. It addressed topics that GMG participants consider important in achieving the goals of safe implementation, such as a system safety lifecycle, risk management, safety case, human-systems integration, and software safety management. The white paper was always intended to be a first step in providing industry guidance and understanding on system safety because the topic was still new to mining.
Now that the industry is becoming more advanced in this space, this new guideline project aims to provide more complete guidance on applying system safety to autonomous systems in mining.
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