Waterline’s hazardous area engineers keep sites compliant

Mining is one of the most highly regulated industries, with safety at the core of its operations. As operational engineers, Waterline’s Hazardous Area (HA) engineers are specialists in this field, keeping sites compliant and productive, while keeping personnel safe.

Supporting all Queensland underground and most open cut mines, Waterline’s HA engineers have the expertise to assist mining companies with their HA requirements while ensuring the safety and integrity of existing operational equipment, or the design, modelling, planning and commissioning of new infrastructure.

HA management in mining covers a wide spectrum of activities and locations, and Waterline’s HA engineers help clients achieve compliance via services such as:

• HA classifications
• Compliant HA designs including required calculations
• HA audits on specific areas or site wide

“When you start talking about HA environments they are grouped into a number of categories. There is Group II for gases, Group III for dusts, and Group I for firedamp,” said Luke Miller, Senior Electrical Engineer.

HA classification and design can carry requirements for surface and underground activities. Adding to the mixture are the different approaches associated with various commodities and materials.

“If you are working with the above ground areas of coal mines you are looking at Group II, vapours and gases like methane, or those which are given off by stored materials like petrol, LPG or MIBC—and Group III coal dusts.”

“When we are talking about underground coal mines, we want people to have competencies specific to Group I, which would align people with the hazards and explosion protection techniques common to that environment. One of the most common explosion protection techniques used in underground coal mines is energy limitation through intrinsically safe circuits. We have been doing a lot of assessments in that area,” Luke says.

Waterline’s site-experienced engineers know and understand the practicalities and importance of ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and standards including:

• QLD Coal Mining Safety and Health Act and Regulations
• AS/NZS 3000
• AS/NZS 3007
• AS/NZS 60079 series
• AS 2067
• AS 60204.1
• MDG15

“As an extension to our clients’ team, we can easily support them with auditing third party equipment, making introduction to site seamless,” Mr Miller said.

Waterline relocated to Level 2, 133 Mary St Brisbane Qld, in September 2021 to accommodate its growing multi-discipline team spanning Civil & Structural, Electrical, Control Systems, Mechanical, Design & Drafting, Operational Support services. From their new premises, they continue to support their existing and new clients, keeping mine sites running 24/7 safely and efficiently, now and into the future.

To find out more about HA management including intrinsically safe assessments, view the latest edition of The Australian Mining Review or visit waterlineprojects.com.