8.

Safety systems

Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

 Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry –
Dessureault, Ganguli, Kecojevic & Dwyer (eds)
© 2005 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 04 1537 449 9

The development and implementation of a minerals industry risk

management gateway

G.V. Kizil & J. Joy

Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC), Queensland, Australia

ABSTRACT: The Minerals Industry Cooperation Initiative (MICI) project at the University of Queensland,
Australia, has launched a new web-site to improve the way mining, minerals processing and quarrying industries
access hazard-related information using Internet technology. The site is called MIRMgate (www.mirmgate.com),
an acronym for Minerals Industry Risk Management Gateway. MIRMgate site development started in June 2002,
and the site was launched in March 2004. MIRMgate provides effective access to minerals operations related,
hazard-based topics in a risk assessment framework using “metadata” technology. The site is similar to an
organized library of on-line resources that draws from national and international sources and is freely accessible
to all minerals industry personnel via the Internet. This paper introduces the MIRMgate concept and provides an
explanation of the system. MIRMgate resource selection processes and services are outlined, and an overview
of future activities is provided.

1 INTRODUCTION • Enabling the user to locate good practice hazard

MIRMgate is managed by industry representatives and
developed by the Minerals Industry Safety and Health
Centre (MISHC) at The University of Queen-Island
in Brisbane. The original concept was for an infor-
mation system to undertake some of the groundwork
for the minerals industry personnel in locating the
vast amount of mine safety information relating to
hazards and hazard management, particularly guide-
lines, and make them available to the minerals industry
to support risk assessments at mine sites. Users can
search and browse resources by Hazard, Task and
Subject through the Internet (Figure 1), use resource
descriptions, and their risk assessment ranking values
to assess a resource’s relevance and connect directly
to the resource if of any interest. MIRMgate contin-
ues to provide this valuable core service by gathering,
evaluating, describing and indexing high quality good
practice information resources.
MIRMgate resources are selected, catalogued and
indexed by subject specialists to ensure only relevant,
information-rich resources are included the MIRM-
gate collection. The resources are ranked on their
relevance to hazard identification, risk analysis, and
adequate control identification, facilitating resource
discovery structured to suit the tasks undertaken at
minerals sites.
MIRMgate will serve the minerals industry by:
• Helping the user identify hazards throughout the
entire life cycle of the minerals operations;
management information
• Assisting day-to-day, moderate and long term deci-
sion making
• Supporting long-term industry viability and sustain-
ability
• Encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing
between minerals industry companies, government
departments, research institutions, and other inter-
ested parties; and
• Allowing direct access to relevant and qual-
ity assured information from multiple websites,
through a common Internet-based system.
This paper introduces the MIRMgate concept and
provides an explanation of the system. The paper
covers the MIRMgate resource selection process, the
resource types, and how the users can find resources
and use services on MIRMgate. The gateway includes
both print and electronic resources the user can elec-
tronically download or obtain the references when full
documents are not available.
2 WHY DEVELOP MIRMGATE?
Managers and engineers are exposed more than ever
to the convenience of technology, and they have high
expectations of web based information systems. Use-
ful resources are hosted by a variety of key stake-
holders including state regulatory authorities, major
mining companies, industry associations and others

427

Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

 Figure 1. MIRMgate web-based portal. www.mirmgate.com
both in Australia and overseas. Hill & Cribb (2000)
state that “finding resources on the existing informa-
tion systems by using traditional tools has become
difficult and time consuming”. The most important
issues include:
• Format and storage location,
• Quality,
• Accessibility,
• Consistency, and
• Maintenance of information/data.
Pinelli (1991) examined the information seeking
habits of engineers and reported their behavior as
follows:
“Engineers, in selecting among information chan-
nels, act in a manner which is intended not to maxi-
mize gain, but rather to minimize loss. The loss to be
minimized is the cost in terms of effort, either physical
or psychological, which must be expended in order to
gain access to an information channel”.
Young & Harriot (1974) conducted a study exam-
ining engineers’ information seeking patterns. They
state that “when engineers need technical information,
they usually use the most accessible sources rather
than searching for the highest quality sources. These
accessible resources are respected colleagues, ven-
dors, a familiar but possibly out dated text, and internal
company reports”.
The explosion in the use of information technolo-
gies in the last few years has created a big challenge
for the minerals industry in the areas of information
storage and retrieval. The challenge was to develop a
428
Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
suitable mechanism to make a useful collective body
of the knowledge accessible to the minerals indus-
try across Australia and overseas. Subject gateways
address these issues.
3 WHAT IS A GATEWAY?
A subject gates can be defined as “a web-based mech-
anism for accessing a collection of high quality, eval-
uated resources identified to support research in a
particular subject discipline” (National Library of
Australia, 2004) or as “yellow pages type directo-
ries pointing visitors to different resources” (Young &
Harriot, 1974). Unlike ordinary data access over the
web, this system would allow the direct access to the
relevant and quality data in multiple websites through
a common web-based system, a gateway, structured to
the users’ needs.
Subject gateways are developed by using metadata
technology to index resources. Metadata is structured
data which describes the characteristics of a resource
(Taylor, 2004). Creating a gateway through a maze of
data using a metadata system enables users to easily
located information resources and helps to bring order
to large information repositories.
4 HOW DOES MIRMGATE WORK?
MIRMgate uses the latest metadata knowledge man-
agement technology to deliver useful, quality-assured
 Figure 2. MIRMgate model.

information over the Internet in a secure and effective • Good practice information (i.e. guidelines for estab-
way. Ballantyne & Addison (2000) report that “a well- lishing effective controls to reduce an identified
indexed database is the most important asset of an unacceptable risk.
Internet service.” Resources in MIRMgate are avail-
able through a centralized database which incorporates
metadata as the basis for resource discovery; similar 5 MIRMGATE RESOURCE TYPES
to an organized library of on-line resources that draws
from national and international sources. MIRMgate covers a broad range of resource types that
The MIRMgate repository is characterized by its can be specified in a search including:
selectivity and quality control. Figure 2 illustrates the
• Guidelines
MIRMgate model. Resources are carefully selected
• Policy Documents
and described after an evaluation of their quality
• Mechanical Design Guidelines (MGD)
to ensure only relevant, information-rich resources
• Handbooks
are included in the MIRMgate collection. MIRM-
• Guidance and Advisory Notes
gate resources are ranked based on their relevance
• Fact Sheets
to hazard identification, risk analysis, and adequate
• Standards
control identification making sure that resources are
• Pamphlets
structured to suit the tasks undertaken at related
• Codes of Practice
minerals sites.
• Research Reports
The resource information includes, but is not exclu-
sive to, areas such as: Future plans call for the inclusion of additional types
of resources in order to continuously add value and
• Assistance in identification of hazards
expand the site. Additional resources may include:
• Technical details of hazards
• Descriptions of how and why hazards get out of • Safety Alerts
control • E-journals
• Images of potential consequences • Safety Bulletin
• Methods of measuring magnitude of hazards • Lecture Notes
• Monitoring for the presence and severity of the haz- • Health and Safety Multimedia
ards through the life cycle of minerals operations • Workshop Materials
(from exploration to rehabilitation), and • Technical Reports

429

Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

 Figure 3. Browsing options provided by MIRMgate.
• Innovations
• Technical Data
• Lessons Learned
• Conference Papers
• Research Reports
• Journal Articles
• and more.
It is expected that the industry will suggest additional
resources for inclusion which may include such things
as audit protocols, accident investigation reports, and
case studies.
6 FINDING RESOURCES ON MIRMGATE
The database is “browsable” (Figure 3) or “searchable”
(Figure 4) by a hazard, task or subject category. A full
description of each resource is provided, together with
a range of other information and direct access to the
resource itself. This allows searching by fields such
as Author/Creator, Title, Subject, Hazard, Task, Date,
Publication Type, Jurisdiction.
7 SELECTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF
MIRMGATE RESOURCES
The “MIRMgate Metadata Manual” has been devel-
oped in consultation with metadata experts at The
University of Queensland. The manual provides a full
description of twenty one metadata categories used in
the MIRMgate database.
Quality selection policies have also been developed
to keep consistency in the system. Resources for inclu-
sion in MIRMgate have been chosen and evaluated
by subject experts in accordance with the “MIR-
Mgate Quality Selection Policy Documents”. These
430
Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
documents include:
• Scope Policy (implies target group): The scope pol-
icy states what is and is not to be included in the
database. This is broadly defined for the identified
target audience.
• Resource Selection Criteria: Resources that fall
within the scope are assessed for inclusion in
the gateway against the resource selection criteria.
which outlines the level of quality that is acceptable
within each individual resource.
• Collection Management Policy: The collection
management policy determines how resources will
be selected in the light of the collection as a whole.
Collection management also involves de-selection
(weeding) as well as selection.
• The MIRMgate quality selection policy documents
adhere to best practice guidelines, as recommended
by the DESIRE Information Gateways Handbook
(DESIRE Project Consortium, 2004). The MIRM-
gate Quality Selection Process is shown in Figure 5.
8 SERVICES AND INDUSTRY BENEFITS OF
MIRMGATE
MIRMgate will serve the minerals industry by:
• Helping the user identify hazards throughout the
entire life cycle of the minerals operations;
• Enabling the user to locate good practice hazard
management information;
• Assisting day-to-day, medium term and long term
decision making;
• Supporting long-term industry viability and sustain-
ability;
• Encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing
between minerals industry companies, government
departments, research institutions, and other inter-
ested parties; and
 Figure 4. Search options available in MIRMgate.

• Allowing direct access to relevant and quality
assured information from multiple websites,
through a common Internet-based system.
Other services will include increasing awareness of
recent good practice information resources by keeping
people up-to-date with recently included resources in
MIRMgate through a “What’s New” link. In addition,
developments and changes to the site will be pro-
vided to keep people up-to-date through a “MIRMgate
Update” link.
9 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
MIRMgate has been continually developed since its
establishment. MIRMgate’s vision is to grow at a
global level and to contribute toward the sustainability
of the industry by providing rapid access to up-to-date,
good practice information sources. By the end of year
2005, MIRMgate targets to achieve the following:
• Populate MIRMgate Repository: Providing more
complete topic coverage by containing over 900
resources, and include “lessons learned” and “inno-
vations” information.
• Develop a registration and alert service: A facility
will be implemented for users to register criteria
they wish to be kept informed about. These user
profiles will be used to enable MIRMgate to deliver
a personalized information service.
• Site evaluation: The MIRMgate project leader will
work very closely with its target user community
to conduct user needs analysis through surveys,
interviews, user groups, and steering committees.
Feedback from these and from user testing sessions
will be evaluated.
• Gap analysis: Gaps where good practice informa-
tion does not exist will be identified. The findings
will be disseminated to the industry.
• Site promotion: The site will continually be pro-
moted at a global level.
• The following areas will also be investigated: inte-
gration of MIRMgate into minerals industry educa-
tion; access to probabilistic data sources; and,
• resource harvesting technology for automatic meta-
data entry.

431

Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK

 Figure 5. MIRMgate Quality Selection Process.
10 CONCLUSIONS
Improvement at each stage of the risk assessment
process is leading to significantly better overall risk
management and the reduction in fatalities, injuries
and other loss events. High quality information could
significantly improve the quality of risk assessments
through increasing the validity and accuracy of the
assessments.
MIRMgate is a unique Internet search tool allowing
users to find high quality good practice information
resources. MIRMgate will help the minerals industry
professionals save time by improving the efficiency
of locating the information resources. It will also help
minerals site personnel in making better decisions that
affect safety, health, environment and other risks.
MIRMgate sets an example of the industry col-
laboration and their willingness to share information,
and demonstrates the industry’s strong commitment to
improve health and safety at mine sites to achieve the
industry vision of zero fatalities.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the contri-
butions of the sponsoring organizations and com-
panies for supporting the project, and sharing their
432
Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
resources with MIRMgate; National Occupational
Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) for sharing
their gateway development experience, and sharing
their resources with MIRMgate; The University of
Queensland Physical Sciences Library staff, Office
of Marketing and Promotions staff, Legal service
staff, Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DSTC),
School of Engineering staff members, and Minerals
Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC) staff for
their assistance in developing the site; Derek Griffiths,
MICI principal adviser, for providing advice and guid-
ance, Marian Hookham for her assistance in preparing
MIRMgate promotional material, and the Australian
minerals industry for their continuing support.
MIRMgate is hosted at the Minerals Industry Safety
and Health Centre (MISHC) at The University of
Queensland, Australia. MIRMgate was established in
June 2003 with initial funding from the Australian
States and Territory Minerals Departments, and the
Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) at The Univer-
sity of Queensland. The Minerals Industry Coop-
eration Initiative (MICI) (www.mirmgate.com/our-
sponsors.asp) has brought MIRMgate to fruition to
bring these resources together in one easy to use Inter-
net portal.The MICI sponsors areAnglo CoalAustralia
Pty Ltd, BHP Billiton Ltd, Newmont Australia Ltd, Rio
Tinto Ltd, Roche Mining, WMC Resources Ltd and
Xstrata Coal.
 REFERENCES
Ballantyne, P and Addison, C. 2000. Information Develop-
ment, Vol.16, No.1, March.
DESIRE Project Consortium. 2004. “DESIRE Information
Gateways Handbook: 2.1 Quality Selection Guidelines”,
Available at: http://www.desire.org/handbook//2-1.html,
[date accessed: 26 June 2004]
Hill, C. and Cribb, G. 2000. 3rd UICEE Annual Confer-
ence on Engineering Education. Hobart, Australia, 9–12
February.
National Library of Australia, Australian Subject Gate-
ways Forum, http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/sg/ [date
accessed 26 June 2004]
433
Copyright © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
Pinelli, T.E. 1991. The information-seeking habits and prac-
tices of engineers. In Cynthia Steinke (ed.) Information
seeking and communicating behaviour of scientists and
engineers. New York: The Haworth Press, 14.
Taylor, C., An introduction to metadata.
http://www.library.uq.edu.au/iad/ctmeta4.html [date accessed:
June 26 2004]
Young, J.F. & Harriot, L.C. 1974. The Changing Techni-
cal Life of Engineers. Mechanical Engineering 101:1.
January:20–24.