Bucyrus RH120E

[Martyn Henley]

Its good to see one of the oldest names in the business going from strength to strength
I wonder if RB international would of been involved if they were still in business ..oh well
Thanks for sharing your photos with us all Paul
Martyn

[rpfowler]

For all the talk on "hard targets" with regard to health and safety here in the UK for mines and quarries, the access arrangements on that backhoe show absolutely no improvement since those of 20 years ago, which I find quite unfathomable.

Having been on some of the largest kit in the mining world only a couple of months ago down under, I am afraid we are being well and truely left behind. Whilst this is not in the really big league, I see no reason why it should not be fitted with proper access arrangements to minimise the risk of trips and falls.

Surely for a new piece of kit you fit decent access?

[Tracshovel]

While I am all for a safe working environment, sometimes I do have to question such a statement br Richard. To automatically associate UK spec machine safety with that of Austraila is a dangerous route to take. A 20 year old design is not necessarly wrong or inadequate to still by used today. You must look at what is safe & PRACTICAL. If you follow the current H&S over zelous assesment of risk then you may actually make life a lot more difficult for those guys who work on these machines. Are there any statistics which show that the current RH design fails to provide safe and functional access? Many of our local mines are more than adequatly furnished with access and lift equipment for site tasks.

This is not a stab at Richard but intended to focus thought at practical solutions to risk in our work environment......... not creating rules & regs for sake of covering somebody elses backside.

[rpfowler]

Tracshovel, I agree that we need to ensure that risk is properly managed and a big gripe of mine is that far too much is basically a backside covering exercise dressed up as H&S. But that is what I found so refreshing about Oz. It was all about how are going to do this job, rather than we cannot do x because of H&S. The setup for access to the cab on that machine appears to be no different to when I was in opencast over 20 years ago. I met up with some of the guys I worked with then in coal here, who now work over there. They have very much moved on.

The simple facts are that slips trips and falls are our biggest cause of LTIs. Where plant has been fitted with stair access for normal operator access without the use of vertical ladders, the number of LTIs has dropped dramatically. That is why we are now retro fitting and why all new kit comes with it on. Whilst it is not mandatory here, it has been in Oz for many years because it is proven to reduce LTI.

[Renaultman]

Brilliant picture, but the under carriage looks to me to be too small for the super structure. It looks like an under carriage from an RH90.

[Tracshovel]

The two photos earlier in the thread show the classic difference between a UK spec and an Austrailian spec access system. The latter has not only an access ladder but also an extra escape ladder system. My gut feeling for the UK preferance is the simplicity........not much there to go wrong or to wreck during operations. It does make a difference to access, the first proto 120E in Scotland had a new electric/hydraulic stair ladder system, it was great for getting on but did take a lot of looking after and in typical Scottish way it was too slow at deploying, after all time is money and they just want the machines working. Again practical solutions is the way forward.

[Ross]

Aye well ... They love to rip ladders off them RH120's ... Even the little one on the track frames.

Any Idea how much them fancy ladders cost to replace? Or How much the down time costs to fix them ... I seen an RH120-E down for 4 hrs because of the ladder ...

The Only Reason the O&K's are anygood is because of O&K ... When Terex bought them they Launched E and is an Evolution of the Later PMS C machine ...

Terex did good to keep it pretty O&K still althou they threw CAT engines in them .

Cannot see Bucyrus Improving them any ... And I will laugh if I see any with the USA flag on them

[Greasemonkey]

Aye well ... They love to rip ladders off them RH120's ... Even the little one on the track frames.

Any Idea how much them fancy ladders cost to replace? Or How much the down time costs to fix them ...

I don't know what a ladder system is worth for our 400s, but it's $50,000 for the little 5 foot ladder that goes at the bottom of the stairs for a haul truck. The sensors screw up every once in a while and the ladder lowers with no notice to the operator, and then it gets ripped off. Then the truck is down for a couple of days to repair the damage.

While I definitely support a safe manner of access and egress, I think a lot of the safety gear they are putting on equipment these days poses more of a risk to the operator and those working around the machine than if it wasn't there.

[Gavin Phillips]

Yuck that livery is terrible! The north-east of England seems to be very fond of the 120-series of mining excavators. The white (O&K/Terex) machines look alright, but I wouldn't try too hard to get used to the "new" Bucyrus livery as hasn't CAT just bought out Bucyrus anyway? It will be interesting to see such a machine in CAT colours!

I'd be quite happy to see them in their original red & white colour scheme to be honest. Like Terex green, they are distinctive from a long way off.

"Hey look at me, I'm an O&K shovel!"

Best regards

Gavin

[Greasemonkey]

I agree Gavin, the old O&K white and red is the best looking scheme on those machines, but dammit, progress is ruining things again...LOL.

As for Cat buying Bucyrus, they haven't bought them yet, since the deal hasn't closed. But it's a pretty safe bet that all will go through now that the BI shareholders have accepted the offer. Now it's basically only the government that can derail it.