• With the demand for safety enhancement gaining momentum among stakeholders in the mining industry, the need to devise a mechanism of guaranteeing protection of a whistle man from rock falls from the wagons became imperative.
By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –
THIRTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD Amrody Miti, an artisan boiler maker and welder at Konkola Copper Mines (KCM)’s Konkola Mine Shaft number one in Chililabombwe has defied all odds by successfully spearheading the fabrication of the first ever underground car at KCM using mild steel pieces.
The car, which has since been named after his first name, Amrody, is an invention designed to enhance the safety of miners, especially those under the name ‘whistle man’ playing the role of assistant to a locomotive driver.
With his role being that of giving signals to a driver by way of whistling when the locomotive is in reverse motion, it, therefore, serves the whistle man the right to position himself at the tail of the waste rock or copper ore laden-wagons.
Traditionally, the whistle man anchors himself at the tail of the locomotive with his body without any form of protection from whatever materials including rocks on board the wagons.
This resulted in miners being exposed to rock falls with some eventually ending up dead, while others sustained injuries in underground accidents involving locomotives.
With the demand for safety enhancement gaining momentum among stakeholders in the mining industry, the need to devise a mechanism of guaranteeing protection of a whistle man from rock falls from the wagons became imperative.
It is in view of this that Mr Miti took up the challenge of fabricating the Amrody Car, designed for anchoring at the tail of a locomotive with the main objective of providing safety to a whistle man who now has the pleasure of seating or standing comfortably in the car fabricated from pieces of steel.
“This car is multipurpose, it can transport materials for emergency purposes underground at the same time providing the whistle man with transport guaranteed with safety,” the seemingly thrilled Mr Miti said.
He said before his Amrody Car innovation, whistle men were subjected to great danger posed not only by rock falls, but also the troy lines with 550 volts mounted on top of tunnels for electrical-powered locomotives.
“Previously when a whistle man would just anchor himself on the tail of the locomotive, there was every possibility of him touching the powered troy line passing on his head,” he said.
Mr Miti said the task of fabricating the Amrody Car was not an easy one as it required a great deal of dedication and hard work. He said the idea for fabricating the car was initially conceived by former vice president for Konkola Integrated Business Unit (KIBU) Barry Hodgkinson and was given to him by his superiors in the Engineering Services department, which habours the Boiler Shop where he operates from.
Mr Miti said with the help of a colleague, he started working on the innovation in June last year and the project took three months to complete.
He said upon completion, the fabricated car was commissioned in October and taken underground at Konkola Mine number one Shaft for trials.
Mr Miti said after passing the tests, it commenced full operation and has since proved a useful asset for transporting materials and miners underground.
“Traditionally, when an underground locomotive is in motion, its driver requires guidance from a whistle man, who normally indicates whether or not the route is clear and this sometimes resulted in some near-misses and caused accidents.
“When it was completed, Mr Hodgkinson suggested to have it named after him but after thinking twice, I thought it wise to name it after me and this why it is called Amrody Car,” Mr Miti said.
He said they named the fabricated car, Amrody, so as to differentiate it from the other existing cars underground.
“All wagons underground are called cars and we have two brands or makes which are Gramby Car used for carrying waste rock and the Hurdson Car for transporting copper ore, I had to name the fabricated car Amrody,” he said.
Mr Miti said the Amrody Car has turned out a big motivation as it had moved him to another level in terms of fabrication innovation.
“This is the first of its kind which was just a pilot project and we are now supposed to fabricate 29 of the same kind,” Mr Miti said.
He said he had not yet been rewarded for this great innovation but was sure of KCM doing that soon as management has come to appreciate his effort.
The succesful fabrication of the Amrody Car may just make the beginning point of a glittering career for Mr Miti, whose professional background goes back to about a decade ago when he completed college at Kabwe Trades where he did Metal Fabrication and a year later in 2005 joined KCM.
Mr Miti started at KCM with a one-year training programme before being confirmed as an atisan boiler maker.
Married with two children, a boy and girl, Mr Miti has every reason to hope for even much greater success in his blossoming metal fabrication career, which so far has caught the attention of superiors at KCM.
KCM chief engineer for Engineering Services Joseph Mukwala described the Amrody Car project, a success, which so far had been performing well and to the delight of the company.
And Konkola Boiler Shop foreman, Boniface Chibuye said the Amrody Car has helped to enhance both safety measures as well as productivty at the mine as the fabricated car now makes it ease to transport materials such as drums, cables, chain blocks and steels needed to support the ground underground.
Mr Chibuye said the Amrody Car initiative has helped to improve overall safety and productivity of miners underground after reducing time covered to walk from one point to another, leading to greater efficiency in the production chain.
He said the fabrication of the Amrody Car ensures that KCM saved approximately K8, 800 after spending K19, 300 as opposed to buying a new car at K28, 100.
