Annual reports tabled in Queensland Parliament

The Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health Kate du Preez said the reports detailed the key activities and achievements of her office and the advisory committees during the previous financial year.

“In 2021–22, my primary focus was on furthering engagement with all sectors of the resources industry to provide effective leadership on safety and health to promote and protect the safety and health of people who may be affected by the operation of the industry,” Kate said.

“I completed a range of projects and activities that were aligned to my three strategic objectives under the Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health strategic plan 2021–26.

“A continuing priority was to promote the importance of a healthy reporting culture in the resources industry.

“Without a culture which encourages and enables workers to report their safety concerns, we can never hope to eliminate hazards which cause serious harm.

“One of the key challenges I identified was ensuring an equitable level of collaboration and cooperation across all sectors of the resources industry.

“In 2021–22, I was able to form solid links and networks with stakeholders, but it remains a challenge due to the diverse operational composition of the industry.”

Activities outlined in the annual report included:

• working with the Queensland Resources Council to continue to facilitate the necessary discussions to achieve the goals of an industry action plan to address the recommendations of the Coal Mining Board of Inquiry
• engaging with industry on its progress in adopting the principles of high reliability organisations
• providing the Minister with independent advice on the performance of Resources Safety and Health Queensland
• monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the Brady review by Resources Safety and Health Queensland
• establishing and chairing the Tripartite Statutory Positions Working Group to provide advice to the Minister on the implementation challenges of amendments introduced by the Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020
• chairing and supporting the Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and the Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee to achieve the objectives of their five-year strategic plans
• implementing a strategic engagement campaign centred around the key objectives of
  • encouraging and supporting workers to report safety concerns
  • understanding the barriers and opportunities to promote improved safety reporting culture
• establishing a program of work to conduct a survey of the reporting culture of the Queensland mining industry
• facilitating an industry workshop on lead indicators of safety
• commencing a project to examine fatigue management in the Queensland mining industry and its relationship with mental health and safety outcomes
• co-hosting an industry forum exploring workplace culture risks in the resources industry including sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination.

In addition to the Commissioner’s annual report, the Minister also tabled the annual reports for the two safety and health advisory committees.

Kate said both advisory committees made great progress in implementing activities outlined in their five-year strategic plans.

“In 2021–22, the advisory committees provided advice to the Minister on issues including mine dust lung disease, the control of airborne contaminants, the causes of serious accidents and the controls in place to reduce risk, competency requirements for statutory positions, and the application of high reliability organisation theory in the industry,” she said.

“Both advisory committees also engaged Simtars to complete a review of all competencies for statutory positions to ensure they are current and meet the original intent of the advisory committee.”

Kate said a particularly significant achievement for the Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee was the hosting of a respirable dust forum to give mineral mining and quarrying stakeholders an opportunity to collaborate and share learnings for developing, implementing, and maintaining effective controls associated with respirable dust and the barriers and opportunities for localised controls.

“The forum was attended by more than 70 industry stakeholders and featured presentations from a diverse range of operations and subject matter experts.

“The Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee also held a community consultation forum in Moranbah to listen directly to coal mine workers about the safety and health priorities in the industry.”

Kate said there was also a strong focus internally to ensure that the advisory committees were able to function effectively to achieve the objectives of their five-year strategic plans.

“Both advisory committees established effective governance arrangements and engaged with industry stakeholders to ensure the many decades of experience and knowledge of members was employed effectively.”

The annual reports of the Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health, Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and the Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee are available here.