The Shire of Esperance in Western Australia recently upgraded 60-year-old rollers and is improving the safety of the staff that operates them.
The new Multi-Wheel Smooth Drum Combination Rollers weigh 14 tonnes each, which is nearly double the weight of the previous 8-tonne rollers, which were 60 years old.
They will help with rural road maintenance, making work more efficient for road crews as tyre spacing and surface can be adjusted.
The Shire spends $2.8 million annually on rural road maintenance and is constantly looking at ways to increase efficiency and safety.
It has started rolling out SPOT Gen3 and SPOT Trace devices and, while the new rollers have not been fitted with devices, the graders they are pulled behind have been.
The SPOT Gen3 devices are primarily for staff safety with SOS and help request functions, and will also offer GPS tracking.
They will be fitted to most of the Shire’s vehicles.
The devices send messages via satellite, so a lack of phone reception is not an issue.
This now means vehicles fitted with this device can be located in near real time, allowing for supervisors to check in on operators working alone, or an operator can call for help in the event of an emergency or breakdown.
These tracking devices will soon work in conjunction with the Shire’s Geospatial Information System (GIS) called Intramaps.
The system gives users access to real time information on geographical data within the Shire.
The Shire began using IntraMaps in November 2016 to develop interactive maps that can be used to view different types of data including but not limited to the landscape, assets and the bin day of households.
IntraMaps has many different applications for the Shire of Esperance.
It can be used to understand the terrain, identify where drainage pipes run, draw a map for publication or to plan a clearing permit application.
As the software is used more, the number of uses for it also increases.
