News
The Economics of Safety:
Quantifying the ROI of Eliminating Live Work
November 20, 2025
Blogs
Turning safer practices into measurable operational gains.
Safety and profitability should not be separate goals and that is especially true in mining sites. A single maintenance incident will stop your operations, trigger investigations and cause injuries. Every hour lost, every damaged component and every unplanned shutdown affect the bottom line. The question is no longer if safety improvements pay off but how much value they return for your operations when done right.
The Elimination of Live Work (ELW) represents one of the clearest examples of how safety investments translate directly into operational and financial performance. Sites that remove the need for technicians to work near uncontrolled energy not only protect their people but also create a more efficient, reliable and predictable maintenance environment. HydraTune’s SafeAdjust ecosystem makes that transformation measurable, combining remote precision tools with durable, field-proven technology that replaces reactive fixes with structured, data-driven maintenance.
Understanding the Real Cost of Live Work
Traditionally, live hydraulic work has been treated as an unavoidable part of keeping production moving. Technicians have been expected to crawl into confined spaces, stand beside high-pressure systems and make adjustments by feel or trial and error. Every one of those tasks carries hidden costs that rarely appear in financial reports but have a major impact on performance.
Downtime is one of the biggest. As mentioned earlier, even just one live maintenance incident can stop your operations. And in most cases, it takes at least a day before you can continue your operations. During that time, your whole production stops. Every machine idles and your operational costs rise. Not to mention the added potential cost of injury and equipment repairs.
But say for example, nothing goes wrong. The inefficiency that comes with manual tuning is still costly. When you stick to manual tuning, you often do repeated adjustments. That means wasted hours and in some cases, inconsistent results. Over time, the cost of inefficient practices will add up and will be impossible to ignore.
Improving Safety & Efficiency with ELW and HydraTune
Adopting ELW removes inefficiencies by eliminating exposure and introducing process control. HydraTune’s SafeAdjust allows technicians to tune hydraulic systems remotely from up to 100 meters away, with adjustments accurate to 1°. What once required multiple attempts beside running machinery can now be completed from a safe distance in a fraction of the time. That means your machinery will require maintenance less often and when it does, it’ll spend less time offline.
This precision extends across entire fleets through FlexAdjust, HydraTune’s universal adapter. FlexAdjust extends SafeAdjust’s capabilities to connect to virtually any hydraulic system across all major OEMs. With HydraTune, technicians no longer need to dismantle components or strain into cramped spaces to access valves.
The consistency you get across your equipment is a crucial economic factor. Keep in mind that ELW practices deliver full value only when they are applied site-wide. With SafeAdjust and FlexAdjust, you can build a more stable operating baseline, minimising unplanned stoppages and improving reliability while protecting technicians from harm.
Quantifying Value Through Data-Driven ELW Practices
SafeAdjust provides another layer of value through data. Every adjustment you make with it tracks and records pressure, position and performance trends. These records can then be analysed over time to reveal early signs of component wear or imbalance. By using SafeAdust, you get:
Reduced downtime: Faster and more accurate maintenance means fewer unplanned shutdowns. Lower incident costs: Eliminating live exposure significantly reduces the risk of unwanted accidents. Improved efficiency: Fewer adjustments, faster verification and less rework. Optimised asset life: Accurate tuning reduces component stress and extends equipment lifespan. Stronger compliance: Meeting or exceeding safety standards reduces exposure to costly audits or non-compliance findings.
Each of these factors contributes to your ROI. When operations remove live work, they reduce risk and bolster the economic basis of their maintenance practices.
Move Toward Safer and Smarter Operations
Safety and performance should never be separate goals. The shift toward ELW mining means that protected people are equal to protected productivity. Once maintenance becomes controlled and consistent, you reduce downtime, improve efficiency and manage costs.
HydraTune helps make that transition to ELW easier for your operations. Through SafeAdjust and FlexAdjust, you get the tools that remove live work in hydraulic maintenance. With HydraTune, you strengthen compliance and achieve measurable efficiency gains without compromising safety.
Learn how HydraTune can help your site quantify and achieve the ROI of safer maintenance, contact our team today.