Advocacy Services

Who is bound by the Act?

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All persons, including the State and, so far as the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the Commonwealth and all the other States. (Persons means companies, governments, people, etc)​

 

What are the goals of the Act?

 

The objects of the Act are—

(a) to protect the safety and health of persons at coal mines and persons who may be affected by coal mining operations; and

(b) to require that the risk of injury or illness to any person resulting from coal mining operations be at an acceptable level; and

(c) to provide a way of monitoring the effectiveness and administration of provisions relating to safety and health under this Act and other mining legislation.

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How are these goals achieved?

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By:

(a) imposing safety and health obligations on persons who operate coal mines or who may affect the safety or health of others at coal mines; and

(b) providing for safety and health management systems at coal mines to manage risk effectively; and

(c) making regulations and recognised standards for the coal mining industry to require and promote risk management and control; and

(d) establishing a safety and health advisory committee to allow the coal mining industry to participate in developing strategies for improving safety and health; and

(e) providing for safety and health representatives to represent the safety and health interests of coal mine workers; and

(f) providing for inspectors and other officers to monitor the effectiveness of risk management and control at coal mines, and to take appropriate action to ensure adequate risk management; and

(g) providing a way for the competencies of persons at coal mines to be assessed and recognised; and

(h) requiring management structures so that persons may competently supervise the safe operation of coal mines; and

(i) providing for an appropriate coal mines rescue capability; and

(j) providing for a satisfactory level of preparedness for emergencies at coal mines; and

(k) providing for the health assessment and health surveillance of persons who are, will be or have been coal mine workers.

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Who does the Act apply to?

 

To:

(a) everyone who may affect the safety or health of persons while the persons are at a coal mine; and

(b) everyone who may affect the safety or health of persons as a result of coal mining operations; and

(c) a person whose safety or health may be affected while at a coal mine or as a result of coal mining operations.

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Obligations for safety and health

Coal mine workers or other persons at coal mines or persons who may affect safety and health at coal mines or as a result of coal mining operations, have obligations. Specifically: 

 

Section 39: Obligations of persons generally

 

• to comply with the Act and procedures applying to the person that are part of the safety and health management system for the mine;

• if the person has information that other persons need to know to fulfil their obligations or duties under this Act, or to protect themselves from the risk of injury or illness—to give the information to the other persons;

• to take any other reasonable and necessary course of action to ensure no-one is exposed to an unacceptable level of risk.

 

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39A Additional obligations

• to work or carry out the person’s activities in a way that does not expose the person or someone else to an unacceptable level of risk;

• to ensure, to the extent of the responsibilities and duties allocated to the person, that the work and activities under the person’s control, supervision, or leadership is conducted in a way that does not expose the person or someone else to an unacceptable level of risk;

• to the extent of the person’s involvement—to participate in and conform to the risk management practices of the mine;

• to comply with instructions given for safety and health of persons by the coal mine operator or site senior executive for the mine or a supervisor at the mine;

• to work at or for the coal mine only if the person is in a fit condition to carry out the work without affecting the safety and health of others;

• not to do anything wilfully or recklessly that might adversely affect the safety and health of someone else at the mine.

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Fun fact: It is stated in the Act that nothing that imposes a safety and health obligation on a person relieves another person of the person’s safety and health obligations under this Act. Additionally, a person might have more than one obligation for example, the Mine Manager who under the Act is considered a 'supervisor' and a 'coal mine worker', or an SSE, who is the most 'senior safety officer' on the mine, and also a 'coal mine worker'. 

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What if a coal mine worker doesn't feel safe?

 

Section 274:

If a coal mine worker (the original worker) believes that there is immediate personal danger, the worker has the right—

(a) to remove themself to a position of safety; and

(b) to refuse to undertake a task allocated to the worker that may place the worker in immediate personal danger.

 

The coal mine operator for the coal mine or the coal mine operator’s representative must not disadvantage the coal mine worker for exercising the worker’s rights under subsection (1).

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(3) If the coal mine operator or the operator’s representative subsequently asks or directs another coal mine worker (the subsequent worker) to place themself in the position from which the original worker has removed themself, or to undertake a task that the original worker has refused to undertake: The operator or the operator’s representative must advise the subsequent worker that the original worker exercised rights under subsection (1) because the original worker believed that there was a serious danger to the original worker’s safety or health.

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Reprisal for raising a coal mine safety issue

QCMA has a dedicated page for this important section of the Act. 

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Obligations of site senior executive (SSE) for coal mine

(a) to ensure the risk to persons from coal mining operations is at an acceptable level;

(b) to ensure the risk to persons from any plant or substance provided by the site senior executive for the performance of work is at an acceptable level;

(c) to develop and implement a safety and health management system for all persons at the mine including contractors;

(d) to give a contractor for the mine information in the site senior executive’s possession about all relevant components of the mine’s safety and health management system, required by the contractor to—

(i) identify risks arising in relation to any work to be performed, service to be provided, or work or service to be arranged, by the contractor; and

(ii) comply with section 43(1)(d);

(e) to review safety and health management plans of contractors and, if necessary, require changes to be made to those plans to enable them to be integrated with the mine’s safety and health management system;

(f) to develop, implement and maintain a management structure for the mine that helps ensure the safety and health of persons at the mine;

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(g) to ensure no work is undertaken by a coal mine worker at the mine, or an operational ROC worker for the mine, until the worker—

(i) has been inducted in the mine’s safety and health management system to the extent it relates to the work to be undertaken by the worker; and

(ii) has received training about hazards and risks at the mine to the extent they relate to the work to be undertaken by the worker; and

(iii) has received training so the worker is competent to perform the worker’s duties;

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(h) to provide for—

(i) adequate planning, organisation, leadership and control of coal mining operations; and

(ii) the carrying out of critical work at the mine that requires particular technical competencies; and

(iii) adequate supervision and control of coal mining operations on each shift at the mine; and

(iv) regular monitoring and assessment of the working environment, work procedures, equipment, and installations at the mine; and

(v) appropriate inspection of each workplace at the mine including, where necessary, pre-shift inspections; and

(vi) the development of a schedule of when inspections, including regular periodic inspections, must be carried out; and

(vii) adequate supervision and monitoring of contractors at the mine.

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