The ChekRite iPad-based compliance system has been adopted by Australian mining contractor Macmahon Holdings to carry out its heavy equipment inspections and tests.
Developed specifically for the mining industry as an easy-to-use, low-cost alternative to paper-based checklists for inspecting mobile and fixed assets, the CheckRite app has been used and evaluated over the past few months at Macmahon’s operations at Christmas Creek and Tropicana in Western Australia, and Waihi in New Zealand.
The company is now using the app for equipment inspections across the three sites, with further expansion planned for the coming months.
Macmahon has been using ChekRite for pre-starts and inspections of 50 types of mobile machines —such as excavators, dozers, graders, dump trucks, loaders, water carts, service trucks, drills, light vehicles and lighting equipment — and now intends to use it to inspect fixed assets such as workshops and overhead cranes, as well as Take 5 and other safety inspections.
“Implementing ChekRite has given Macmahon unprecedented access to real time information on the condition of our mining assets and significantly reduced the amount of paper work and administration on site,” says Macmahon plant general manager Peter Truscott.
“ChekRite’s ease of use, immediate capture of all inspection data, ability to ensure compliance with legislative and company requirements, and convenience has seen it get strong buy-in throughout Macmahon, from operators and fitters, to workshop managers, and through to senior company management.
“We are looking forward to expanding our use of ChekRite beyond pre-start inspections and services to cover many other processes that are currently paper-based, helping us to further ensure compliance, increase consistency and reduce costs,” Truscott says.
ChekRite director Jordan Millar says the app has an easy-to-use, infinitely customisable interface that allows customers to regularly check or inspect equipment or facilities and maintain a complete audit/compliance trail.
“With ChekRite, we use Apple’s highly secure iOS/iPad technology to ensure each inspection is carried out completely and consistently each time,” Millar says. “Data from each inspection is uploaded automatically to a secure server for immediate and permanent access for auditing, compliance, management and analysis requirements.”
Millar says that old-school paper-based checklists are “time-consuming and prone to misinterpretation, illegibility, misplacement, damage, and so on – and that’s before dealing with the issue of how to capture and retain the data for future access”.
His company’s app, however, “provides a consistent, reliable inspection and audit trail, ensuring a complete record of the condition of equipment and facilities condition, along with their maintenance and service requirements” while saving time as well.
ChekRite says that all data recorded during the checking process is kept in a highly secure Tier 4 Australian data centre.