Guest lecture by Miha Ajster, Maintenance Manager of the Pohorje funicular

In the course Technical Regulations and Product Design of the Mechanical Engineering programme, we hosted Mr. Miha Ajster, Maintenance Manager at the Pohorska funicular railway, who is also a graduate of our Mechanical Engineering programme, and who took 1st place with his diploma thesis at the national competition of the 29th Technical Consultation of Maintenance Engineers of Slovenia!

In his guest lecture, Mr Ajster introduced the tasks of the maintenance manager, the importance of complying with legislation and safety standards for the safe use of cable cars, the difference between the knowledge and experience of the operators and the importance of the link between these for reliable and safe operation and use. According to him, the most frequent cause of accidents is negligence on the part of the operators, and it is rare for an accident to occur because the material of the device has failed.

Most often, it is the operator’s staff who are responsible for the accident, due to lack of knowledge of the operating instructions, failure to carry out regular daily checks of the device, poorly trained staff to supervise passengers on the cableway, etc. He also presented the students with images of equipment damage and accidents caused by weather conditions and human error, reiterating that staff training is crucial, as workers are the first on the installation when problems occur and try to prevent a disaster.