WRUMM Staff Place: Stockman’s Hotel Rick Cruea – Chairman City: Elko, Nevada

Dave Starbuck – Vice Chairman

Ben Lupercio – Secretary

Steve Volkert – Treasurer

The Vice Chairman, Dave Starbuck started out the meeting and started with introductions of the members. There were 19 members present for the meeting. The Treasure gave the group an update on the business report and old business was discussed immediately after.

Steve Volkert explained the why the organization requires a fee to attend the meetings. Some money is spent to promote the group and some money is used to pay for the facilities we use to hold our meetings. As of today we have $2,700.00 in our account and we are fairly solvent.

The part availability issue is improving since Atlas Copco has taken over dealership on the Wagner equipment. It has been difficult for Atlas Copco to understand the end users desire for the quantity of spare parts. However, relationships between end users and Wagner are improving as a result of direct contact to the supplier.

A brief discussion on tractors was held. It appears that most people are running a mixture of Kubota and John Deere tractors. There was really no clear advantage for the Kubota tractors other than maybe local support. Ford tractors seem to be very popular in Canada and some mines in the states are using them as well. Again, this decision seems to be made based upon local support.

Front axle problems are common among all types of tractors. Some Newmont sites have designed an improved front axle for the Kubota tractors.

There was some question on ROPS requirements for tractors with man baskets or tractors that are used to carry personnel. It maybe that the ROPS structure is required to cover all seats that could be occupied not just the operator.

Some mines are using Miller Toyota vehicles and are getting around any import issues by attaching an implement such as a crane. As soon as the vehicle has been delivered, the implement is being returned to Miller.

Some mines are using wash bay technicians to clean equipment and others are using maintenance technicians to clean equipment. There was some thoughts that by using the maintenance technician to clean the equipment, inspections and specific work areas are getting more attention.

As for safety procedures when cleaning the top of equipment, some mines are using a full body harness and a Salo block to avoid falling from the equipment. Also, some mines have added a series of steel bas around the cab area on some equipment for use as a fall restraint tie off point.

Further discussion of tie off points lead to the discussion of a new clip that can be inserted into a split set bolt, locked in place and used for a tie point.

For the information on the Miller Fiction Bolt Anchor can be found at:

            http://www.millerfallprotection.com/miller/anchorageconnectors/anchorageconn.html

It was suggested by one of the tire manufacture that storing tires at pressure is more safe than storing tires at 15 P.S.I. This particular manufacture felt that the locking ring position and seal can be compromised by not fully inflating the tire. Additionally, it was noted that most tire accidents happen while inflating or deflating tires and this is best performed by specifically trained personnel.

As for changing tires in the field, some mines use a tire handler mounted to the back of a tractor.

Stillwater is reporting good success in controlling accident damage. They feel it has been a long time since a maintenance technician complained about an operator for tearing up a piece of equipment. It has been a long hard battle for this to come about and the relationship between operations and maintenance is improved as a result. The number of incidents are about the same, however, the severity is much lower.

The group held a discussion about down time associated with accident damage. Most people feel this should not go against equipment availability. For those mines that are using Pitram dispatch system, the system is capable of reporting on availability with and without equipment damage down time.

Other possible tools to control accident damage could be to use the operations departmental budgets to pay for these repairs. Repair cost could also come out of bonus pools with an explanation of how the bonus was affected by accident costs. Additionally, assigned regular operators of equipment may also help reduce accident damage.

Some manufactures are starting to design tie off points into their equipment. This can be difficult for OEM’s as they don’t want to provide tie off points at the expense of creating a tripping hazard.

It was suggested that perhaps we could collectively perform a risk assessment of falling type accidents that have occurred on the mobile equipment, provide a risk control for these high risk operations and submit the findings to MSHA for some agreement of fall restraints.

Some mines are working on ground level fluid check points to avoid any fall restraint regulations for the operators when performing a pre-shift inspection.

Held a discussion around criteria for installing fire suppression systems on mobile equipment and cost considerations for these systems. Some mines are installing fire suppression systems on mobile equipment without regard for cost.

On the maintenance side of these systems, it was the general feeling that while these systems do create some additional maintenance for equipment, they are well worth the effort. Additionally, most people are having their systems inspected annually by an outside supplier for compliance reasons. There was some question about compliance to OEMs specifications on service intervals. Most people feel the annual inspection from an outside source is in compliance as the systems are every PM by on site technicians.

Some mines have been wearing the rear dove tail of these loaders to the point of putting holes in the fuel tanks. The fuel tanks on these loaders are an integral part of the main frame and despite the added wear steel to these areas, they continue to wear holes in the fuel tanks. Some mines have installed drop in fuel tanks to avoid this problem.

Some mines are installing oil filled pins on the boom and bucket end of loaders to compensate for the lack of lubrication from operators. This requires some modifications to the original pin bores, but has been very successful.

It was asked of the group if operators are taking better care of equipment with cabs. Generally speaking, yes they do. The cabs do create some visibility issues, but operators will gladly put up with these issues to have a quiet, cool and clean cab.

Some mines have reduced noise levels on haul trucks by adding sound suppression barriers in key locations. The noise levels have been reduced enough to keep the equipment in compliance with single hearing protection.

Some mines are experiencing short brake life on haul trucks. To improve brake life and flex plate life, some mines have installed an electronic inclinometer to the trucks and use the second throttle feature on Detroit Diesel engines to reduce engine RPM on down hill grades. The inclinometer is set in such a way that when the truck is on a 6% grade going down hill, the inclinometer sends a signal to the second throttle function and limits the high idle to 1700 RPM. Engine over speed faults are still happening on these trucks, however, the over speed is not unreasonable.

Some mines feel that we can achieve the 2006 regulation of 160 micrograms of carbon by performing good, basic engine work. Most people are against soot traps due to the back pressure it creates on the engine as well as the increase in NOX.

During the last WRUMM meeting the group had discussed the possibility of creating noise and DPM committees. As these are two very large issues for all mines, it was decided that we should take on these issues one small piece at a time. We will start with noise reduction on haul trucks. There will be a questionnaire developed and sent to all members of the WRUMM. The questionnaires are to be filled out and returned to Denny Stout who will then combine the questionnaire results and report on the findings at our next meeting. Please complete and return the questionnaires promptly.

Collectively we would like to see an increase of membership to the WRUMM. Some mines are going to bring more maintenance technicians in addition to the regular staff, to the meetings. Additionally, we need to improve the website to make it more useful to the end users. Most people will not keep coming back to this site if there is not any new information available. We have been experiencing problems with the webmaster getting our site updated in a timely manner. Also, the password sensitive data can not be accessed due to problems with the password part of the website. The WRUMM officers will be working on website improvements during the next officers meeting.

The group would like to see a year long schedule for the WRUMM meetings. It was noted that many people are receiving short notice and can’t make the meetings as a result. It also adds expense for some as air line tickets can’t be purchased in advance. The officers will be taking this up at the next officers meeting.

We did not discuss vendors for the next meeting.

Reed Smith presented the latest regulations for MSHA certification on engines. Basically, the regulations have been changed so that engines running at an elevation over 3,000 feet, will have to be de-rated by 3% for every 1000 feet above the specified elevation. (See attachment )

Reed went on to talk about Daimler Chrysler and how Detroit Diesel fits into the new structure. Diamler Chrysler has purchased Frieghtliner and Detroit Diesel. Detroit Diesel will be reporting to the Freightliner division.

Series 40 engine is no longer available as a new product from Detroit Diesel. Parts will continue to be supported, but new engines will be produced under the Navistar brand.

Series 50 and 60 engines will be discontinued as new engines in 2008. Again, parts support will be available through Detroit Diesel until 2018.

Detroit Diesel will be moving away from the Series 40, 50 and 60 engines and will be promoting Mercedes engines.

Smith Detroit Diesel expects that at some point Deutz and Mercedes sales will have to be done through different companies within their organization.

Steve presented an overview of Sandvik companies, local shop features and facilitated a discussion on benchmarking. For complete detail, see attachment.