Western Region Electrical Engineers forum at Dubbo

We held our second Western Region Electrical Engineers forum at Dubbo last week, attended by approximately 25 electrical engineers. 

This collaborative forum was our second for electrical engineers in Dubbo this year and was designed to share key learnings between stakeholders in the metalliferous mining industry.

The Regulator gave presentations covering recent incidents and trends, industry electrical alerts and bulletins, as well as information about the Central Assessment Unit.

Topics that generated considerable discussion included learnings from electric shock investigations and shock hazards on underground mobile electrical equipment.

Our electrical engineers forums are a crucial part of the maintenance of competency requirements and continuing professional development.

They also provide an important networking opportunity for the mining electrical engineering industry professionals and the Regulator.

Practising certificate holders must maintain contact details with Regulator

Practising certificates holders must maintain the currency of their contact details and places of work with the Regulator. This is a condition of the certificate.

The Regulator uses the contact details to email holders about any matters affecting their practising certificate, such as being audited for maintenance of competence. If we cannot contact a holder, this may be regarded as a breach of the condition and the holder may be penalised.

Holders who have a login to the Resources Regulator portal can navigate to the Mining Workers - Practising Certificate section to update details. Holders should attach a resume or summary if they are notifying about changing their place of work. 

Those without access can register for a new login at the portal. To update your login email, contact the Mining Competencies and Authorisations Unit mca@regional.nsw.gov.au 1300 814 609 (option 2 then 3).

Vehicle interaction – Surface coal and metalliferous mines

This month we released our report from the targeted intervention campaign conducted earlier this year about the risks associated with vehicle interactions at surface coal operations. 

Over 10 days in late May and early June, inspectors addressed 78 crews across 22 surface coal mines, highlighting the importance of managing vehicle interaction risks.

This also included detailed discussions with 214 front-line leaders and 563 individual workers. Similarly, inspectors addressed 37 crews across a combination of 14 surface and underground metalliferous/extractives mines. Similar detailed discussions were held with 96 front-line leaders and 321 individual workers.

Our 2022 targeted intervention campaign was developed to focus primarily on the responsibilities of front-line leaders and their duties to establish and maintain the required standards. It built on our ongoing engagement with industry and supports the targeted awareness campaign conducted in April 2021.
 

Work health and safety reports can now be submitted online 

The annual work health and safety reports for the period 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 are now available on the Regulator Portal for mine operators to submit. 

You will see a list of due reports for the mine/s that your email address is authorised to notify. Reports must be submitted for the financial year within 30 days after June 30 every year. 

Certain mine operators are not required to submit a report. For example, operators of exploration sites or non-coal mines where the total number of hours worked at the mine during the relevant financial year was less than 10,000 hours. Your response to the Resources Regulator Portal questions will assist you in determining if a report is required. 

Please refer to our website, and guide for more information about work health and safety reports.

Please contact us via cau@regional.nsw.gov.au for any inquiries or to advise of any changes to your information.

MESS 2022 - agenda now available

The agenda for the 30th Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar, to be held on 10-11 August 2022, has been released.

Limited tickets are still available to the 2-day seminar to be held at the Sofitel Wentworth, Sydney, which focuses on mechanical safety and health issues in mines and provides a means for collective communication, discussion and consultation of those issues between engineers and other key stakeholders.

A range of tickets are available here including the full seminar (2-day pass and seminar dinner) as well as single day options.

MEMSS 2022 - early bird tickets now available 

Early bird tickets have been released for the 2nd Mining Engineering Managers' Safety Seminar (MEMSS) to be held on 12-13 October, 2022 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

The full program will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime we encourage those keen to attend to take advantage of the early bird discount and secure your seat. Early bird tickets include the 2-day seminar and dinner on the 12 October, 2022. Limited tickets available.

Upcoming quarterly forums and events 

There are a number of quarterly safety forums and workshops scheduled over the coming months.

Quarterly forums

• Open cut mining engineering managers' forum - 19 July 2022
• Underground mining engineering managers' forum - 21 July
• Southern and Western region coal electrical engineers' forum - 18 August
• Hunter region electrical engineer's forum - 19 August

• Opal mining safety workshop, White Cliffs - 27 July - SOLD OUT
• Opal mining safety workshop, Lightning Ridge - 2 August
• Opal mining safety workshop, Lightning Ridge - 20 September

In case you missed it...

The following are recent publications and updates available on our website:

• Report - Fires on mobile plant, October – December 2021
• Staff movements at the Resources Regulator
• Peak Gold Mine Investigation Information Release (IIR)
• Fact sheet - Falling objects - Metalliferous mines and large quarries