DELIVERY AND OFF-LOADING
GENERAL SAFETY PROVISIONS
- All personnel required coming into contact with Cyanide or any form thereof, will be appointed to do so by virtue of their training knowledge and experience to handle cyanide in a safe manner.
- Cyanide must only be handled under the direct supervision of a competent person.
- Food and drink will not be consumed in any area where cyanide is handled.
- Cyanide must never be handled so as to come into contact with the skin.
- Smoking must not be permitted when handling or offloading cyanide.
- Acid must never be mixed with or stored near cyanide.
- Any spillage must be cleaned up immediately by means of washing or neutralizing.
- No work is to be carried out near or on equipment containing cyanide without a signed clearance certificate issued by a competent person.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Shift Supervisors
During Off-Loading of Liquid Sodium Cyanide
The Shift Supervisor will be responsible for but not limited to:
- Showing the driver where to proceed to inside the plant and which delivery pipeline is to be used.
- Ensuring that the full load of tanker can be accommodated before offloading can commence.
- Visually inspecting the vehicle for obvious roadworthiness defects.
- Ensuring all tools used by the driver are in a sound working condition.
- Physically checking all emergency equipment, safety shower and running water supply before commencing offloading.
- Making sure all dosing and make up installations have been stopped before offloading commences.
- Ensuring adequate and effective barricading of access roads and walkways where necessary during offloading.
- Locking and unlocking the required access points.
- Ensuring that all connections made by the driver are sound.
- Ensuring that the tanker is not moved until the transfer is complete.
- Ensuring that the driver has decontaminated the outer surface of the truck and road after completion of the offloading procedure.
- Ensuring that the truck is safe to leave the plant area.
- Completing the checklist used for offloading cyanide.(Refer to offloading example) Annexure 4
- Maintaining visual presence and contact with the Driver (act as his BUDDY).
- Rinsing all spillage from the roadway where it may have occurred.
- After offloading the shift foreman will sign the required delivery notes and relevant paperwork including the clearance certificate.
- Ensuring that no persons enter the storage area during offloading.
During Normal Plant Operations
The Shift Supervisor will be responsible for but not limited to:
- Ensuring that all storage and make up facility access gates and bulk receiving delivery valves are kept locked.
- Ensuring that no work is done on any equipment inside the storage area without an authorized work permit.
- Ensuring that when ordering work to be done that there is a buddy for the person doing the work.
- Ensuring that anybody entering the cyanide storage area is aware of the inherent safety risks and the required safety equipment.
- Ensuring that no untrained people are allowed to enter the storage area.
- Ensuring that any cyanide spillage is reported and immediately disposed of in a safe manner.
Driver’s Responsibilities (During Deliveries)
The driver will:
- Proceed safely to and from the offloading area.
- Be responsible for the total physical offloading as per Transport Agreement (Responsibility starts at point where he enters mine property).
- Connect and disconnect all piping to the truck.
- Supply all gaskets, bolts and hand tools needed to connect the piping to his vehicle and delivery piping.
- Not be allowed to enter the storage area for any reason other than when acting as a buddy for the reagent handler if needed.
- Operate the controls of the vehicle.
- Ensure that the road vehicle and his offloading piping are in a sound condition.
- Rinse the truck of surface contamination after offloading.
Transport And Delivery From The Point Of Storage/Issuing To The Point Of Use At The Mine
Off-Loading at Fairview, Consort and BTRP Plants
- Truck arrives at the mine’s boom gate and is weighed.
- Truck arrives at the plant and driver disembarks.
- Driver reports to Plant gate security.
- Plant gate security personnel notifies shift supervisor.
- The Shift Supervisor scrutinises the delivery manifest for the following inter alia:
–Product type
–Destination
–Quantity
- Shift supervisor grants permission for the truck to enter and proceed to the respective offloading area.
- Once the truck has stopped, the supervisor barricades the offloading area as described above and posts the correct signage.
Shift supervisor and driver inspects the following:
- Safety shower and eye fountain.
- Oxygen packs x 2
- First aid kit
- Air station
- Running water
- Tank levels
- Truck seals
- Offloading hose
- PPE of both the driver and foreman
- Offloading tools, gaskets and jubilee clamp
- Once the above is satisfactorily complete, the driver puts on his PPE,
The Shift supervisor now unlocks the correct flange cover and grants permission to the driver to connect the delivery hose.
- Driver removes the flange cover and blank flange on the offloading pipeline
- Driver connects the hose to the product-offloading pipe.
- Driver removes seals from the truck’s discharge valve.
- Driver removes the blank flange from the truck’s discharge valve.
- Driver connects the hose to the truck valve making use of the gasket supplied by the driver.
- Driver opens both 100mm valves and checks for leaks.
- Supervisor inspects the area and delivery hose to ensure no leaks are present.
- Supervisor ensures that the hose is indeed connected to the correct storage tank.
- Supervisor then grants permission to the driver to connect the air hose to the plant’s air station.
- Driver and supervisor ensure that the area is clear of personnel before the air is opened to off load the cyanide.
- Supervisor grants permission to the driver to initiate offloading.
- Driver opens the air station valve and checks the air pressure on the tanker.
- If the pressure is correct, the driver opens the air valve on the truck and product offloading commences.
- When the tanker is empty the driver will close the air valve on the truck and then the valve on the air station.
- The driver removes the air hose from the air station.
- Driver closes the valve on the truck and the offloading pipe.
- Driver removes the hose from the truck and rinses the valve.
- Driver removes the hose from the offloading pipeline and rinses the offloading pipeline.
- Driver rinses the hose and floor thoroughly.
- Driver replaces flanges on the truck and the offloading pipeline.
- Driver replaces the flange cover.
- Shift supervisor locks the bulk delivery valve and flange cover.
- Driver relocates the hose to the hose berth on the truck.
- Supervisor signs manifest and notes the final tank levels.
- Truck commences to the weighbridge and is weighed before departure.