IMPROVING HEALTH AND SAFETY HAZARD MANAGEMENT IN THE UNDERGROUND MINING INDUSTRY
APPENDIX 2: AUSTRALIAN PRACTICE
Australia has a large underground mining industry, with regimes differing between states. Although New Zealand's industry is much smaller, it is still useful to look at Australian practice to see what they are doing to help improve the ways hazards are identified and managed. Below are examples of selected regimes in the Australian underground mining industry.
New South Wales
The NSW regulatory regime requires the preparation of a comprehensive health and safety management system. The system must be consistent with AS/NZS 4804:2001 and include the following components: an inspection programme, information and communication arrangements, supervision arrangements, monitoring arrangements, electrical and mechanical engineering management plans, withdrawal conditions and ventilation arrangements.
The inspectors may review/audit the system at any time but it does not have to be approved before work can commence (i.e. it is not a safety case regime).
In addition to the system, major hazard management plans must also be prepared on any prescribed hazards listed in the regulations. The following hazards are listed: slope, surface transport, underground transport, strata failure, inrush, fire and explosions, dust and explosion, explosives and airborne dust.
NSW also requires check inspectors (i.e. employees who are competent to check on and raise workplace hazard concerns with the employer and the regulator).
High-risk activities are required to be notified to the inspector, industry check inspector and the site check inspector. A notice must be given containing the nature of the activity, the intended commencement date and information required that is specific to each activity. There is a waiting period that varies between activities from the time the notice is given to the carrying out of the activity. Activities that are considered to be high-risk include (but are not limited to): single entry development, sealing when an explosive atmosphere may result, working within an inrush control zone, injection or application of polymeric material for ventilation or strata, cutting or welding in a hazardous zone underground, shotfiring underground (where shotfiring has not taken place within a year prior), shaft or drift sinking, raise boring, or development of a new underground mine entry.
Certain activities (including high-risk activities as described above) also require a licence to perform. Unless a licence is obtained from the chief inspector, that activity is unable to be carried out. The applicant for the licence must be over 18 with appropriate qualifications to demonstrate their knowledge, and they must be a fit and proper person.
Queensland
Queensland requires a safety and health management system similar to New Zealand's HSE Act system. An underground mine is also required to have a principal hazard management plan providing for at least the following: emergency response, gas management, methane drainage, mine ventilation, spontaneous combustion and strata control.
The regulations are very comprehensive, and the underground section contains provisions for emergencies, rescue and communication, electrical equipment and installations, explosives and explosive power tools, gas monitoring, mechanical, mine design, mining operations, ventilation and working environment.
Victoria
The regulations require a safety management system to be documented, containing the operator's safety policy, the systems and procedures by which risks are controlled, performance standards for measuring the effectiveness of the system and the way the standards are to be met, and the audit process.
A safety assessment for major mining hazards must also be prepared, containing methodology; the nature, likelihood and severity of the potential harm; judgements; measures for the control of risk; and reasons for adopting or rejecting control measures.
These requirements are similar to the HSE Act's requirements for a hazard identification system, although they set out in greater detail what is required.