In 2007, Divall’s Earthmoving & Bulk Haulage received two Komatsu HM300-2 dump trucks and a Komatsu PC200-8 excavator, each fitted with Komtrax, a wireless equipment monitoring system.One of the company’s owners, Andy Divall, said he was able to act on the information he received from the system, which he said has increased safety.“The Komtrax system alerts us via email and SMS to any potential issues affecting a machine,” Divall said. “Not only performance and status – but also when the machine is operated in a potentially unsafe or inappropriate manner.“For example, we had a couple of reports come to us on the email that the trucks had been operating on a side slope, which was a potential rollover hazard, and so we had a quiet word with the operators.”Divall says he was also notified when an operator attempted to lift a load that was too heavy for the company’s excavator.“It’s all very handy stuff,” he says. “You might think it’s a bit ‘big brother’ but it’s definitely making our operators more conscious of proper driving and operating techniques, and they are much less likely to take short cuts because they know we’ll find out about it.”
