A new safety app called Torqn allows workers to share safety and equipment information across the sector. The app has been designed by two former BHP executives, with an aim to improve the overall safety of the industry.
The apps creators, Troy McDonald and Brett Baker met at BHP while working to improve health and safety across the company’s operations.
The app’s main goal is to by make it easier for workers to share and access information that can help them stay safe on the job. This could include information on hazards, as well as best practices for working with specific types of equipment.
The app is already making waves in the industry with BHP, South32, Rio Tinto and Komatsu keen to get on board.
Baker has spent a decade working in mining as a safety and training manager.
“Sites tend to operate like little fiefdoms, and knowledge-sharing was always difficult. A mining company with 100 sites is likely to have 100 different sets of procedures rather than one standardised set,” Baker said.
“Part of the reason for that is that the mines in the network aren’t regularly sharing information because it’s difficult to do it efficiently and share best practice.”
To access the app, a user would create an account and join groups called “loops.” These groups would be selected based on their use of similar mining equipment. The app isn’t just for the users of the equipment. Manufacturers can also respond to posts about their equipment.
“If you’re a major manufacturer and there’s a problem that’s trending on your piece of equipment – like a dump truck in Western Australia in the iron ore sector – we’ll develop a corporate insights dashboard,” McDonald said.
“Once we started to generate sufficient content and data on the platform, we’ll be able to market our corporate insights package both here and offshore.”
The app will also feature “in app alerts” that could radically improve on-site safety for companies and regulators.
The app has future plans to expand to other industry sectors such as agriculture, automotive, construction, aviation and forestry. Its aim is to cover any sector that relies on expensive equipment to operate.
“The vision is that if you’re a general user on the platform, and you’ve got a Tesla, a caravan and a jetski, you can bring all those other pieces of equipment into your feed,” McDonald said.