November 08, 2022
New mine site designed to eliminate risks for pedestrians
Alcoa’s design for the new mine region for the Willowdale Bauxite Mine in Western Australia recently received recognition at the 2022 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards.
In a first for Alcoa and rare in Australian mining, the new Larego region was designed with the primary intent of eliminating, rather than preventing, known safety risks for pedestrians, keeping them segregated from mobile equipment.
The 2022 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards are sponsored by the government of Western Australia's Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety WorkSafe.
The project eliminated worker interactions with vehicles and mobile equipment through a pedestrian tunnel, dedicated walkway system, and segregated operating and maintenance environments. Stairs in high use areas were replaced with ramps to significantly reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls.