Latest Quarterly safety report... now available!

Our quarterly reports are designed to assist mine and petroleum site operators to meet their obligations under relevant work health and safety legislation, including the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Act 2013.

The October - December 2019 edition features a new two-page safety performance snapshot showing key measures to assist industry in the development and promotion of safe work practices on mining operations. The snapshot has been designed to be printed separately for display purposes.

Download our latest reports here

30^th Annual Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar

2020 Hindsight – Engineering the future

2020 marks the 30^th anniversary of the Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar. The seminar will take place Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 August at the Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney. This year’s theme, 2020 Hindsight – Engineering the future, is intended to provide the opportunity to share learnings from mechanical incidents, projects and triumphs and also presentations on future technologies, developments and opportunities.

Share your ideas and knowledge
We are seeking presenters to share their experiences and insight of issues and initiatives in mechanical engineering safety in the mining industry. This is a great opportunity to present to mechanical engineers across all aspects of NSW mining.

Submit an expression of interest
If you are interested in being a presenter, please read the information for applicants and submit an expression of interest form by email, no later than 5pm on Thursday 9 April 2020.

Information for applicants

Lateral load shifting incidents

Since 2015, 81 incidents have occurred in the NSW mining industry involving lifting, towing and snigging. Thirty-seven of these incidents resulted in workers being injured.

We have produced a video that looks at two incidents involving lateral load shifting - a Safety Alert involving a flight bar ejecting and hitting a worker who was installing a conveyor belt, and an Investigation Information Release about a worker who was injured while releasing a jammed conveyor chain.

View the Lateral load shifting incidents video

Three weeks remaining to have your say

Review of Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Laws

The public consultation period for the Review of the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Laws will run from March until April 2020. During that period, the independent lead is holding nine free, face-to-face public consultation forums over a four-week period.

Select a public consultation forum location and date below to register:

Week 1:
•   March 10 - Penrith (completed)
•   March 11 - Wagga Wagga (completed)
•   March 12 - Wollongong (completed)

Week 2:
•   March 18 - Dubbo
•   March 19 - Broken Hill

Week 3:
•   March 23 - Muswellbrook
•   March 24 - Newcastle
•   March 26 - Coffs Harbour

Week 4:
•   April 7 - Sydney

To make a submission you can:

Complete the online survey

Complete the feedback form
- online submission form
- download the fillable form (Microsoft Word version), complete and return via email or mail
Attend a free, half-day, face-to-face public consultation forum (see available dates above)

Submissions close 17 April 2020.

Download the public discussion paper

Click here for further information

Changes to Regulator Portal - coming soon

Changes and new features for our Regulator Portal are scheduled for implementation soon. Details regarding the changes are outlined below. (Click image thumbnails to enlarge).

General changes

Additional widgets will be added to simplify the management of tasks/records raised by the site. (e.g. safety incidents will have their own widget).
Widgets will contain tabs segregating tasks. (e.g. open/closed, due/past, current/past)
The search functionality will be improved. Each widget will be able to filter a list of records by searching the task number. The filter on the people widget will search the name, role and location.

User Management

Administrator functionality will allow a site to nominate an administrator. The nominated administrator will be able to manage other portal users and add roles/statutory functions for their site.

Survey plans

Mining surveyors will be able to submit plans electronically via the Regulator Portal.
They will also be able to view due or past survey plans and submit 'out of cycle' survey plans.

Notification of other matters and Statutory notifications

The updates will allow for Cl129 Statutory notifications and notification of other matters to be submitted electronically via the Regulator Portal.

Visit the Regulator Portal

The Mental Safety Toolkit... now available!

The Bloomfield Group has developed and published a free iOS app and video as part of ‘The Mental Safety Toolkit’ which was an initiative of an approved WHS Undertaking.

The undertaking was in response to an incident from December 2016 at Bloomfield’s Rix’s Creek Mine which resulted in a contract haulage truck driver passing away. The objective of the toolkit is to help businesses be better prepared to manage mental health effectively in their workplace.

Find out more and view the Mental Safety video

Download the Mental Safety App via the App Store

View the WHS Undertaking

Release 13 open for public comment

Safe Work Australia is evaluating the Workplace exposure standards for airborne contaminants to ensure they are based on the highest quality, contemporary evidence and supported by a rigorous scientific approach.

We would like your feedback on the draft evaluation reports and recommendations. In particular comments of a technical nature are sought about:

the toxicological information and data that the recommended workplace exposure standard is based upon, and
the measurement and analysis information provided.

For more information on other chemicals and their release dates, please see the release schedule.

Comments are open from Friday 28 February 2020 and will close on 27 March 2020.

Click here for further information and to provide your comments