Will Braid 461028

ZAA203 Assessment Two

DESCRIPTION

We travelled to Savage River Mine, owned by Grange Resources, within the Tarkine region of

Tasmania’s North West. A pristine wilderness with a mine buried in the middle of it. The mine

was operating before the area was declared a national park and steps are in place to ensure the

wilderness surrounding the site remains as it should.

We went for an induction, covering safety, environmental factors and an understanding of the

inherent dangers of being of a site.

FEELING

My initial feeling when we headed onto the site was to marvel at the scale of the mine. The old

saying that “everything is bigger in Texas”

could be said of Tasmania’s wild West

Coast. From the size of the trucks to the

sheer scale of the open cut mine itself was

amazing. To give you a feel, the top

of what is known as North Pit

(pictured above) is about 300m

above sea level, the bottom of the pit

is about 15m below sea level.

Another example if the massive

pipeline that transports the iron ore

to Port Latta. At one point, where it

crossed Savage River itself, there is a

span of pipe from one side of the

gorge to the other of 300m, about

150m above the river held up with

six wore ropes about 450m long each

(pictured right). A great and

dangerous site for base jumping with

cameras on either end to catch would be adrenalin junkies in the act for prosecution for

trespass.

I got a good feeling about the key three drivers of project management – time, money and

quality. I also learned about the three “W’s” which are a brilliant way to check off milestones in

projects. The three W’s are who, what and when. These are key to communication channels

after project launch (Skalicky et al. 2017).

EVALUATION

The key item I evaluated was the safety rocedures of strategic planning. Every project is

carefully and methodically planned with adherence to the Zero Harm ethos. This includes

everything from vehicles having flashing orange lights, headlights on, personal protective

equipment and procedures for just about every operation of the mine. Project managers have

workplace health and safety at the top of their list when it comes to scoping and developing a

plan. WH&S is so high up on the list that new technology is being used including a $1m

simulator for driver training. Technology is increasing the level of safety for workers in mines

worldwide (Horberry, 2012).

I evaluated that everything done on site is planned to within and inch of its life.

We learned that there are three key drivers of projects being time, money and quality. Each

project is beholden to at least two of these measures. A project based on time is usually at the

expense of money meaning that it is all about getting the project done on time. Often overtime

is used and paid form for staff to keep the project moving. A project based on money is usually

at the expense of quality, Staff will normally not work overtime to keep costs down and time is

impacted as the project does not keep rattling along. A project based on quality will usually be

at the expense of time. Money is not usually an issue with this type of project and time is at risk

of blowing out as staff work slower with greater precision.

Using the three W’s mentioned above, project managers track who is to complete a certain task

in the project, what the task is and when it is due to be competed. In a general reporting sense,

each “who” will report “when” he has completed the “what” so the project can continue to be

mapped as ahead of schedule, on track or behind schedule.

ANALYSIS

My analysis is that that

workplace health and

safety has come a long way

in the last 20 years. Where

previously people could

smoke in crib rooms, not

wear hard hats and safety

boots were optional, now,

through careful and considered project management, risk is identified, evaluated, mitigated or

removed and reflected upon at the end of a project. It is a major part of the scoping process

initially and the review process of every project.

My analysis also includes the three W’s as a brilliant way to keep track of any project. The use

of a Gantt Chart (pictured right) to monitor these three key aspects (Sharon and Dori, 2017).

CONCUSION

My main conclusion from our visit is, apart from that he road in and out is very windy and not

particularly safe, is that project managers are very detailed in their work. Be it human resource

allocation, safety, plant and equipment monitoring and maintenance, project managers are

responsible for delivering projects on time and on budget.

Project managers monitoring throughput using the three W’s and accompanying charts, sticking

to the key drivers as well as general day to day monitoring and reporting set themselves up for

success through careful scoping and planning prior to the commencement of each project.

References

Jiří, S, Jiří, V, Marek, Č, & Martin, J 2017, 'Project as a System and its Management', Acta Informatica

Pragensia, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 4-19 (2017), 1, p. 4, Directory of Open Access Journals, EBSCOhost, viewed

31 August 2018.

Horberry, T, 2012, 'The Health and Safety Benefits of New Technologies in Mining: A Review and

Strategy for Designing and Deploying Effective User-Centred Systems', Minerals, Vol 2, Iss 4, Pp 417-

425 (2012), 4, p. 417, Directory of Open Access Journals, EBSCOhost, viewed 31 August 2018.

Sharon, A, & Dori, D, 2017, 'Model-Based Project-Product Lifecycle Management and Gantt Chart

Models: A Comparative Study', Systems Engineering, 20, 5, p. 447-466, Scopus®, EBSCOhost, viewed

31 August 2018.