Benjamin Amoo-Mensah, AGR’s resident West African representative, recently visited AGR’s operations in Western Australia as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations. For the past 15 years, Ben has overseen both AGR’s and its customer’s sodium cyanide inland road transport service providers in West Africa.
Sodium cyanide transport in West Africa is usually done via convoys and due to the distances and road conditions these trips can sometimes take up to a week, increasing the risk of driver fatigue.
During his visit, Ben was invited to visit Qube Logistics to learn how their Fleet Management Centre (FMC) is assisting to achieve zero harm outcomes. To demonstrate the advances in transport safety, Ben was shown the in-cab camera Driver Safety Systems (DSS) that analyses a driver’s face and eyes for fatigue. The DSS detects drowsiness or distraction in the driver and sends alerts via chair vibration and in-cab alarm. A message is also sent to the FMC where the analysts review the reason for the alert and contact the driver.
This proactive approach to safety creates a fantastic opportunity to share the technology and learnings with its customers and suppliers transporting cyanide to AGR’s Africa based customers.
The FMC incorporates other systems that monitor vehicle operation, including overall vehicle maintenance and tyre wear, allowing full oversight of driver and vehicle operation, performance and operating costs.
Ben said there was an opportunity to improve overall safety in the road transport in West Africa and seeing how Qube is utilising technology was very helpful. “The visit was very beneficial, and I will take back the information regarding new safety developments and knowledge to the African transport companies,” he said.
