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The Boddington Hot Seaters - This is our story - Cinema Ad
- Published_at:2012-08-24
- Category:People & Blogs
- Channel:AusMiningStory
- tags:
- description: These mums are like gold for a goldmine. The 'Boddington Hot Seaters' are a group of lively mums (and one dad) who have dramatically increased production at the Boddington Gold Mine, 130 kilometres from Perth. Newmont Mining identified a large loss of production time occurring while fulltime equipment operators on twelve hour shifts took morning tea and lunch breaks. This was equating to thousands of tonnes of ore not being moved. In an inspired move, the Boddington management team decided to train and employ local women who were looking for work between 9am and 2pm, to relieve the fulltime operators. Danny Foley explains the concept: "Hot Seating is where you change equipment as quickly and safely as possible. It's one out and one in, and go." These mums certainly pull their weight, and then some. As Cathy points out, "Fully loaded, the trucks are about 500 tonne." Thankfully these monstrous machines are fully automatic and have as Cathy describes "a better turning circle than my ute." From an operational perspective the 'Mother's Shift', as it's known, covered the production downtime during the breaks of fulltime equipment operators, with an estimated 120 to 160 hours of equipment operational time gained. That equates to millions of dollars a year. But on a personal level, the job is priceless. As Louise says, "it's massive for me and my self confidence." Rochelle's daughter Jade has even noticed the change in her Mum. "It made her a lot more confident, I'm proud of her. And she's made a lot of friends." Importantly, the mums have gained industry training skills and experience while still being able to drop off and collect their kids from school. As Rochelle says, "To go to work when the kids are at school, knowing they're safe and happy - we are lucky." Kylie agrees, "It's nice to be able to pick them up from school. We're not missing out on anything with this job." Cathy chimes in with a smile, "Happy wife, happy life, there's no question about that." But let's not forget Patrick - he's the one bloke on the 'Mother's Shift', and he gets to drive these colossal machines around for a living -- making him one of the happiest home dads in the world! The move to employ locals won the '2012 Outstanding Company Initiative' award with the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA (CMEWA) the 'Innovation in Training and Development' award with the Australian Mines and Minerals Association (AMMA) in May and was a finalist at the Australian Human Resource Industry Award. Despite all this recognition the Boddington Hot Seaters still have their priorities straight. Cathy puts it nicely, "my kids are worth more to me than a truck load of gold." Thanks to this great initiative from Australian Mining, she can give them all the attention they need. For more great stories from Australian Mining, please visit: http://www.thisisourstory.com.au
| ranked in date | views | likes | Comments | ranked in country (#position) |
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| 2013-05-02 | 5,300 | 6 | 3 |
( ,#63)
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