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Are you doing all you can to ensure the safety of your crew? Â
October 16, 2025
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Treating the elimination of live work as insurance for both people and operations.
Mining remains one of the few industries where almost every decision directly affects your crew’s safety. Performing highly technical work whilst being surrounded by noise, vibration, heat, dust, and heavy machinery is unforgiving and even when every procedure is followed the risk never completely disappears.
The question for mining operators is: ‘Are you doing everything in your power to protect the people who keep your sites running?’
ELW as an Insurance Policy Against Risk
Traditional approaches to safety often focus on compliance, personal protective equipment, and training. Although all of these are essential, they still leave technicians exposed to the same underlying hazards whenever live work is required. The principles of Elimination of Live Work (ELW) offer something different. Instead of teaching people how to work around danger, ELW removes the need to be near it in the first place. ELW in mining acts as an insurance policy for mining operations:
For technicians, ELW means less time spent in cramped spaces, fewer hours working around high-pressure systems, and more focus on the quality of their craft. For operations, ELW reduces downtime caused by injuries or reactive maintenance. It helps maintenance planners anticipate and prevent issues before they start using live data captured during every remote adjustment. It also ensures stronger compliance with safety standards and demonstrates a commitment to protecting your people. For leadership, ELW provides certainty. It is the assurance that the site is not waiting for an incident to drive change but is taking steps today to prevent one. That certainty builds resilience, ensuring production goals are met without compromising the well-being of the workforce.Â
Unlike traditional insurance, which only comes into play after an incident has already taken place, ELW pays its dividends every day. Every task performed without exposure is another injury avoided, another investigation prevented, and another shift completed safely. This daily return on investment is why so many mining companies are now treating ELW mining as a core strategy for protecting both people and performance.Â
Why Aren’t Safety Procedures Enough?
Policies and training sessions are the foundations of mining safety. They guide technicians on how to minimise risks, but they cannot remove those risks entirely. A procedure may dictate how to approach a hydraulic adjustment safely, but if that adjustment requires working inside a cramped compartment next to a live machine, the hazard is still and will always be there.
ELW changes that by redesigning maintenance so that technicians don’t have to remain inside the danger zone during the testing process. This shift builds confidence among crews who know they can complete their jobs without being asked to put themselves in harm’s way. It also strengthens trust between management and workforce, showing that safety commitments are backed by real change, not just words on paper.
How HydraTune is Driving Site Safety
ELW cannot succeed without practical tools that perform in the real conditions of a mine site. HydraTune’s solution is designed around that need. SafeAdjust, FlexAdjust, and the rugged tablet with its dedicated app give crews a consistent platform for hydraulic maintenance that keeps them out of danger zones while still delivering precise results.
With SafeAdjust, technicians can tune hydraulic systems remotely from up to 100 metres away, with adjustments accurate to 1 degree. FlexAdjust ensures the same level of access and accuracy even when valves are buried behind panels or tucked into awkward corners. These solutions create a single process that works across every OEM and every type of machine, ensuring that ELW practices can be scaled consistently across a site or an entire fleet.
Ensure the Safety of Your Crew with ELW & HydraTune
Safety in mining is too important to leave to chance. Every site has procedures, training, and protective equipment, but those measures only go so far when crews are still exposed to live work. ELW offers a way to change that reality, functioning as a form of insurance that reduces risks before they become incidents.
HydraTune’s solutions make ELW practical in the field, proving that safer maintenance does not need to come at the expense of efficiency. If your site is ready to go beyond compliance and adopt safety measures that protect both people and productivity, HydraTune can help. Every day with ELW in place is another day where the risks of live work are avoided. Every day without it is another roll of the dice. Get in touch with HydraTune today to learn how you can incorporate ELW principles into your operations.