Risk Assessment of Backhoe Loader Downtimes

Abstract

Although the biggest advancements could be expected from the mining industry as the oldest one, it is still a major source of air pollution, there are more people hurt or injured than in any other industry, while social conflicts around it are worldwide spread. The reason for the lack of expected progress in the area is the most likely the fact that current research streams vary barely focus to human and organizational factors, but technology-centered design dominates, while risk management analysis are rarely applied. The probable reason is proper record keeping. The aim of this paper is to present the data collected on downtimes of backhoe loaders, to propose the methodology to be applied and show and analyze results obtained on its down time analysis and risk management. This research analyzed the structure of downtime and consequences during a period of one year of two backhoe loader working in mining site in Serbia. Downtimes were classified as technological downtime, power / electricity downtime, mechanical downtime, misuse due to abuse, organizational downtime and downtime due to external influences. In this research, the frequencies of downtime were monitored by the stated categories of downtime. The consequences of the identified delays were then assessed, and the risk calculated. By analyzing the types of downtime by systems, it was determined that the priority action measures in order to mitigate the risk of specific construction machines should be aimed at protecting workers during technological operations of installing turbines, rear arms and the like. Although mechanical downtime had the largest share in the risk calculation, the risk map for specific machines clearly indicates that the technological procedures of assembly and disassembly are the most critical in terms of risk.