New fact sheet about bullying and harassment 

We have produced a fact sheet about bullying and harassment, and inappropriate conduct, in the workplace. 

The fact sheet is to assist mine operators and workers to understand their duties and responsibilities in relation to workplace bullying and inappropriate conduct.

Workplace bullying is unreasonable behaviour repeatedly directed towards a worker, or a group of workers, that creates a risk to health and safety.

It can occur in any workplace and can be harmful to you if you experience or witness it. More information is available in the fact sheet on our website. 

Small Mines Safety Roadshow wrap-up

We recently completed a series of small mines safety workshops at 14 venues across NSW, attended by 385 industry participants.

The workshops, held during February, March and April, focussed on effective supervision, quarry manager practising certificates, on-site management of vehicles and plant, dust management and a number of other topics relevant to the sector.

Our Small Mines Team received positive feedback about the workshops and the team will meet soon to discuss potential improvements for next year’s program.

The presentations from the workshops will be available on our website soon. We'll keep you updated via Mine Safety News. 
 

New drill and blast forums added to events line-up 

The inaugural open cut and underground drill and blast forums will take place in May and June to provide industry with collaborative meetings to improve legislative compliance outcomes of blasting activities in NSW mines. The forums will be held face-to-face and online on the following days:

• Open cut drill and blast forum - 25 May 2022, Hunter Valley and online
• Underground drill and blast forum - 7 June 2022, Dubbo and online

Who should attend?

• Drill and blast engineers, superintendents, managers, MEMs, quarry managers
• Appointed supervisors (shotfirers)
• Suppliers and contractors

March business activities report 

The monthly business activities report for March 2022 is now available.

The report provides a summary of our regulatory activities last month including our publications and alerts, safety notifications, mining authorisation activities, as well as our targeted assessment program.

MESS 2022 tickets on sale

Early bird tickets have been released for the 30th Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar (MESS) to be held on 10 - 11 August, 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 10 August, 2022. Limited tickets available.

Call for speakers - MEMSS & EESS 2022

We are seeking expressions of interest from enthusiastic and experienced presenters to be part of our 2022 safety seminars:

• Mining Engineering Managers' Safety Seminar on 12 and 13 October 2022 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, Sydney NSW
• Electrical Engineering Safety Seminar on 9 and 10 November 2022 at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, Sydney NSW

This is an excellent opportunity for individuals to share their experience, insights and learnings with the NSW mining industry.

Reminder - maintenance of competence compliance auditing 

We have contracted Core Mine Training and Mines Rescue to complete 100 audits of practising certificate holders for their compliance with the maintenance of competence condition by 30 June 2022.

Practising certificate holders should download the revised logbook from our maintenance of competence webpage. They should complete the self-assessment worksheet to ensure their log is ready to be audited, should it be requested.

Further information can be sought from the Mining competence team at mca@planning.nsw.gov.au or 4063 6461. 

Reminder to renew practising certificate

Do you hold a practising certificate? We are reminding all practising certificate holders to renew their practising certificate well before the 5-year expiry date.

We'll send you a reminder email 3 months before the expiry date. Certificate holders should apply through the portal at least 6 weeks before expiry to ensure they receive their new certificate in plenty of time. 

Please keep your contact details up to date with us to ensure you receive a reminder email. Keeping your details up to date with the Regulator is a condition of your practising certificate.

This can be completed through the Resources Regulator portal, in the Mine Workers - practising certificates section.

Further information can be sought from the Mining competence team at mca@planning.nsw.gov.au or 4063 6461

Safe Work guidance on Japanese encephalitis 

Safe Work Australia has developed new work health and safety (WHS) guidance on Japanese encephalitis.

Japanese encephalitis is spread through mosquito bites and is more common in areas of increased mosquito activity.

For more information see Japanese encephalitis: duties of employers under the model WHS laws.

In case you missed it...

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

• Consolidated report - Spontaneous combustion underground coal mines
• Consolidated report - Managing ground or strata failure risks in the underground metalliferous sector