Dejan Petrović

Risk assessment model of mining equipment failure based on fuzzy logic

Abstract The systematic maintenance of mining machinery and equipment is the crucial factor for the proper functioning of a mine without production process interruption. For high-quality maintenance of the technical systems in mining, it is necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of machinery and accompanying elements in order to determine the critical elements in the system which are prone to failures. The risk assessment of the failures of system parts leads to obtaining precise indicators of failures which are also excellent guidelines for maintenance services. This paper presents a model of the risk assessment of technical systems failure based on the fuzzy sets theory, fuzzy logic and min–max composition. The risk indicators, severity, occurrence and detectability are analyzed. The risk indicators are given as linguistic variables. The model presented was applied for assessing the risk level of belt conveyor elements failure which works in severe conditions in a coal mine. Moreover, this paper shows the advantages of this model when compared to a standard procedure of RPN calculating – in the FMEA method of risk assessment.

Mining injuries in Serbian underground coal mines - A 10-year study

Mining, especially underground coal mining, has always been a dangerous occupation. Injuries, unfortunately, even those resulting in death, are one of the major occupational risks that all miners live with. Despite the fact that all workers are aware of the risk, efforts must be and are being made to increase the safety of mines. Injury monitoring and data analysis can provide us with valuable data on the causes of accidents and enable us to establish a correlation between the conditions in the work environment and the number of injuries, which can further lead to proper preventive measures. This article presents the data on the injuries in Serbian coal mines during a 10-year period (2000-2009). The presented results are only part of an ongoing study whose aim is to assess the safety conditions in Serbian coal mines and classify them according to that assessment.

The use of database on injury at work records in Serbia

The risk of an injury at work, occupational disease or damage to the health of employees due to danger is, lately, the common subject of numerous studies. The appropriate identification of the risks is the starting point for development the safety and health of the employees in a company. In order to adequately anticipate the risk based on the statistical data on incidents, e.g. injuries at work, it is necessary to identify the critical points in the enterprise. It is impossible to start in motion a riskmanagement plan without the serious statistics with the elaborately processed data on an injury. Most companies, conditioned by a strict legal framework in the field of safety and health at work, keep their records on injuries. However, with development in this domain, the need for a uniform database for all injuries that occur on the territory of the Republic of Serbia is created. This paper proposes the form, use and further development of the unified database for injuries at work. The base is modeled after the existing form of the report on injuries at work, and its possibilities are shown through the example of injuries that have occurred in the coal mine Bogovina in 2016.

How to choose the appropriate project management approach

During the process of managing a project, requirements and approaches are changed, depending on the project implementation stage or certain challenges that occur during the project implementation. The degree of projects complexity changes over its life cycle phases, where the uncertainty might be considered as highest at the initial phase with the tendency to reduce as information gathers over time. Within the paper different project management approaches are presented, emphasizing the difference among them and their sensitivity to uncertainties and projects characteristics. The traditional approach is suitable for managing well-structured projects in the project environment with clear requirements and project scope. But, stakeholders cannot always specify all the requirements at the very beginning of the project and changes throughout the project life cycle can be expected. Agile project management is most appropriate for managing projects with expected frequently changes throughout the project life cycle and related to that high uncertainty. For managing projects with not clearly defined goals and solutions, which are high-risk and high-change projects, with high failure rates, possible option might be extreme project management. In the situation when a project has clear solution but not clearly defined goals, emertxe project management could be best project management approach. The requirements of project management could be developed during the project life cycle, depending on different characteristics of project life cycle phases. Also factors that affect project success are discussed in the paper as well as importance of considering project complexity, uncertainty and project environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Strategic Project Management — Project Strategy and Measurement of Success

Relevant research has shown (The Standish Group Reports, 2009) that a large number of organizations do not achieve the set goals in the execution of their projects — the completion of the project in the predicted time period, within the budget, and with the agreed quality, among others. On the other hand, a more serious problem is that many of them seem to fail to achieve business goals, while it is a commonplace that the desired results fail to be achieved in either group. The majority of organizations strive to improve the execution of their projects in a traditional way, for example, through employees’ education, work process improvement, introduction of software support, etc. The focus on these elements only results in a limitation as to how much the effectiveness and efficiency of the project execution can be improved, especially from the aspect of the organization achieving its goals. In order to achieve a higher competitive advantage, the real improvements have to be closely linked to the strategic aspect of project management.