The legal responsibilities for safety and health for exploration companies, exploration managers, contractors, contractors’ managers and workers vary depending upon where in Australia the operations are carried out. Two aspects of responsibilities must always be considered:
• Compliance with the statutory law of the relevant state, for example, in Queensland the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999.
• Common law duty of care, which requires an employer to take reasonable care for the safety of people. Statutory law results from Acts of Parliament. Common law results from precedents established by judges in courts of law.
Relevant statutory law relating to occupational health and safety in exploration work in Queensland includes the:
• Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Regulation 2001. This law relates to safety and health in metalliferous mining and quarrying operations, and to mineral exploration other than exploration for coal, oil and gas.
• Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2001. This law relates to safety and health in the coalmining industry, including exploration for coal.
• Petroleum Act 1923. This law relates to the production of and exploration for oil and gas. The legislation has been completely reviewed and will be replaced by the Petroleum and Gas Production and Safety) Act 2004. This new Act comes into force during 2005.
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 together with its Regulations, Codes and Standards. This legislation covers all occupational health and safety matters in Queensland except where the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999, the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Petroleum Act 1923 apply.
Other laws which may impact on safety and health for specific exploration activities include the:
• Explosives Act 1999 (administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines)
• Radiation Safety Act 1999 (administered by Queensland Health)
• Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Act 1994 (administered by Queensland Transport)
• Civil Aviation Act 1988 (administered by the Commonwealth Department of Transport)
• Water Act 2000 (administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines).
Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 and Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999
In Queensland, exploration for minerals other than petroleum and gas is conducted under the relevant mining safety and health legislation: the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999. These two Acts are almost identical and follow common principles. However, the Regulations for each Act are different, because of the different natures and sizes of metalliferous mines and quarries when compared with coalmines. In the definition of ‘mine’ and ‘coalmine’, the Acts include exploration activities carried out on mining tenure issued under the Mineral Resources Act 1989.
The Acts apply to:
• everyone who may affect the safety or health of persons at a mine
• everyone who may affect the safety or health of persons as a result of operations or coalmining activities
• any person whose safety and health may be affected while at a mine or as a result of operations or coalmining activities.
The objectives of the Acts are to:
• protect the safety and health of persons at mines and persons who may be affected by mining operations or activities
• require that the risk of injury or illness to any person resulting from mining operations or activities is at an acceptable level.
Basic principles
The principles of the Acts are that risks must be managed at an acceptable level and that all persons involved in the industries have obligations relating to safety and health. The level of obligation is dependent on, to a certain extent, the ability of the person to have an impact on safety and health. The greater the ability, the greater is the obligation.
The Acts refer to appointment of operators by the mining tenure holder and to appointment by the operator of a site senior executive. The Acts seek to achieve cooperation between operators, site senior executives and workers to meet the objects of the Acts. Cooperation includes involving workers in management of the risk. As well as coalmines, metalliferous mines and quarries that employ 11 or more workers are required to have documented safety and health management systems. All persons working at mines must be competent to perform their duties. Competence for a task is the demonstrated skill and knowledge required to carry out the task to a standard necessary for a person’s safety and health.
Control and management of risks
The Queensland legislation requires that the level of risk of injury or illness is:
• within acceptable limits
• as low as reasonably achievable.
To decide whether risk meets the above requirements, the likelihood of injury or illness from the risk, and the severity of the risk, must be considered. Risk is effectively managed when all persons individually and as part of the work group and organisation take action to keep the risk to an acceptable level. In particular, this means following risk management procedures and practices that are appropriate for the work being carried out.
Risk management is the systematic application of policies, procedures and practices to:
• identify, analyse and assess risk
• avoid or remove unacceptable risk
• monitor levels of risk and the adverse consequences of retained residual risk
• investigate and analyse causes of accidents and high potential incidents to prevent their recurrence
• review effectiveness of risk control measures
• take appropriate corrective and preventive action.
If there is an unacceptable level of risk to persons, they must be evacuated to a safe location and action must be taken to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. When hazards are identified and risks analysed, the standard hierarchy of hazard controls should be adopted, as follows:
• elimination of the hazard
• substitution with a lesser hazard
• separation of persons from the hazard
• engineering controls
• administrative controls
• use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
To obtain a greater understanding of risk management, refer to the following publications:
• MDG 1010—Risk management for the mining industry (Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales)
• AS/NZS 4360—Risk management (Standards Australia)
• National minerals industry safety and health risk assessment guidelines (Minerals Council of Australia)
• Workplace health and safety risk management advisory standard (Division of Workplace Health and Safety, Queensland).
Safety and health obligations
The Queensland legislation places clear obligations on workers and other persons at mines who may affect safety and health. These persons include:
• holders of tenements issued under the Mineral Resources Act 1989
• operators of mines as appointed by holders
• site senior executives (the most senior person on site)
• contractors
• designers, manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant for use at the mine
• erectors and installers of plant
• manufacturers, importers and suppliers of substances for use at a mine
• suppliers of services.
The Acts clearly state the obligations for persons generally and for each of the above persons. Some of the obligations of workers and other persons generally are to:
• comply with the Acts and with procedures applying at the mine
• share information about risks
• take any reasonable and necessary course of action to ensure persons are not exposed to an unacceptable level of risk
• ensure, to the extent of the responsibilities and duties allocated to the worker, that the risks of injury to the worker or any other person is at an acceptable level
• comply with instructions for safety and health
• work at the mine only if in a fit condition to carry out the work without affecting their own safety and health or that of others.
Operators of mines have specific obligations to ensure that:
• there is an acceptable level of risk to workers at the mine
• they provide a safe place of work and safe plant
• they maintain plant in a safe state
• the operator’s own safety and the safety of others is not affected by the way the operator works.
Appointment of operators and site senior executives
The holder of the mining tenement may appoint an operator for the mine. If an operator is not appointed, then the holder is also the operator and has all the obligations of an operator.
When appointing an operator, the mining tenement holder must give a departmental inspector of mines for the region written notice of the:
• name and address of the operator
• name of and a description of the land comprising the mine.
The operator must provide the inspector with a description of the processes to be used, the layout of operations, and information on plant and equipment at the mine (facility description) before operations start. The inspector must also be advised of the day on which operations are to start.
The operator must also appoint a site senior executive who is the most senior officer employed by the operator for the mine and who has responsibility for the mine. The site senior executive has specific responsibilities, including developing a management structure and providing for competent supervision.
Obligations of the site senior executive include:
• ensuring risks from operations are at an acceptable level
• developing a safety and health management system if 11 or more workers are employed at a mine
• training workers so that they are competent
• inspecting and monitoring the workplace.
Mine record
Under the Acts the operator must keep a mine record, which includes:
• reports, findings and recommendations resulting from inspections, audits and investigations
• directives issued under the Acts by inspectors, inspection officers and other persons allowed to issue directives
• records of remedial actions taken
• records and reports about all serious accidents and high potential incidents that have happened at the mine
• any reports and information prescribed under the regulations.
The Acts do not specify the format of the mine record. It may be kept in the form of a hard-bound book or electronically. Whatever method is used, it must:
• be kept for seven years
• be available at all reasonable times for inspection by workers
• not be destroyed, defaced or altered so that it is no longer a correct and complete record.
The Mines Inspectorate has produced a Guidance Note—Keeping and using the mine record at mining and quarrying operations in Queensland.
Accident and incident reporting
The Acts have specific requirements for reporting serious accidents and high potential incidents.
General requirements are for:
• immediate notification to an inspector of mines in the case of:
– an accident causing death
– an accident causing admission to hospital for a bodily injury endangering or likely to endanger life
– a high potential incident of a type prescribed by regulation
• monthly reporting of all lost time accidents.
If there is a serious accident or high potential incident at a mine, the site senior executive must investigate the accident or incident and prepare a report. The report must include recommendations to prevent the accident or incident happening again. To assist operators and site senior executives to understand and comply with reporting requirements, the Mines Inspectorate has produced guidance notes about reporting serious accidents and high potential incidents. They are:
• Guidance Note QGN 06—Guidance to metalliferous mines and quarries in reporting serious accidents and high potential incidents to an inspector of mines and a district workers’ representative
• Guidance Note QGN 07—Guidance to coal mines in reporting serious accidents and high potential incidents to an inspector of mines and an industry safety and health representative.
Common law duty of care
While breaches of statutory law are criminal offences heard in a magistrate’s court, common law cases are dealt with in civil courts. The most frequent cases of common law action are those for damages and compensation following a workplace injury.
Under common law duty of care the employer has a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that employees are not subject to unnecessary risks. In general the employer must provide:
• a safe place to work
• a safe system of work
• proper plant and well-maintained equipment
• adequate supervision
• adequate training and instruction.
The courts can award compensation if it is shown that the employer is negligent and has failed to adopt a reasonable standard of care. A reasonable standard of care would include compliance with statutory law, Australian standards, Worksafe Australia codes of practice, industry association standards or any other similar codes commonly known in the community.
General
Exploration companies, their managers and safety officers, and those in charge of exploration programs must make certain that all people employed on a program, including contractors, are fully aware of their responsibilities, duties and obligations.
They must ensure that these people are competent and fully trained to do the work for which they are engaged. It is not sufficient to comply with the law. There must be compliance with relevant standards and codes of practice.