Second COVID-19 emergency response exercise for remote mines

A second exercise PANDEMINEIUM was held earlier this week, bringing together mines from the Cobar and Nyngan areas with emergency services and government agencies to further test the emergency response in the event of an underground mine emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Work Health and Safety Amendment (Review) Act 2020 recently passed by the NSW Parliament has enacted key changes to NSW Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws.

These changes, which came into effect 10 June 2020, will assist in improving compliance and enforcement measures for the NSW WHS Regulators, to make the lives of workers and business owners healthier, safer and more productive.

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Worker’s arm injured in belt press filter

A worker opened guarding around an operating belt press filter in order to correct a misaligned belt. He lost his balance while moving towards the filter, causing his arm to become caught between the belt and a moving drum. He sustained serious arm injuries which required surgery.

View the full Investigation information release (IIR20-08)

The following videos were produced by industry and have been shared with us for broader distribution. The videos detail the circumstances and highlight key learnings gathered from industry-specific safety incidents.

CHPP Sump water inrush: This animation details the sequence of events that resulted in an incident at a NSW coal mine. During a shut-down at a coal preparation plant, two workers were erecting scaffold in an enclosed sump when about 3000 litres of water was released from an overflow at the top of the plant. The workers quickly climbed down the scaffold and exited the sump as the water rose above the egress point. One worker suffered knee injuries.

Hydraulic pulling stud failure - Bulga Open Cut: Bulga Open Cut facilitated the development of this animated video to outline the sequence of events and highlight the subsequent findings of a dangerous incident that occurred at Bulga Open Cut on the 17th February 2020.
The incident involved the failure of a hydraulic puller during the installation of a body pivot bush on a dump truck.

Update on the transition to GHS Revision 7

Safe Work Australia have been working towards adopting the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Revision 7 for workplace hazardous chemicals under the model WHS laws since late 2019.

A two-year transitional period was due to start on 1 July 2020. However, Safe Work Australia Members have agreed to delay the start of the transitional period due to the impact of COVID-19 on Australian businesses.

The new start date for the transitional period is 1 January 2021. A full two-year transitional period will follow from this date.

Further information

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Further information:
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