New Tasmanian mine safety laws

Sections focusing specifically on mine safety have been incorporated into the existing Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (WHS Act) and the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations 1998 (WHS Regulations). There are now specific sections dealing with mining in the WHS Act and Regulations. The general and specific requirements of the laws operate together to provide for OHS for mining and associated operations.

The definition of a mine is no longer restricted to places subject to a mining lease under the Mineral Resources Development Act 1995. Mining operations are defined in terms of the nature of activities captured. They include exploration for minerals, extraction or excavation of minerals from the ground, and minerals processing on the same site, or adjacent to, or as part of, a continuous process of extraction.

The new laws refer to mine holders and mine operators. The mine holder is the person who holds the relevant mining lease or mineral tenement, or otherwise the person for whose benefit the mining operations are carried out. A mine holder is required to appoint a mine operator to carry out mining operations, and the mine holder must exercise due diligence in selecting an operator with the capacity and resources to ensure the work can be carried out safely. The mine operator must ensure the health and safety of mine workers and other persons at the mine and that persons are not exposed to risks to their health or safety arising from the mining.

A site senior officer for a mine must ensure that the mining operations or the state of the mine don’t adversely affect the health or safety of anyone. This includes ensuring planning, organisation, leadership and control of operations; adequate and competent supervision; and appropriate procedures for communication between relevant people at the mine.

A mine operator must develop, implement, maintain and review a documented health and safety management system to protect the health and safety of mine workers and other persons who may be exposed to risks arising from mining operations. When preparing or amending any part of the health and safety management system, a mine operator must consult with workers who may be exposed to risk to their health or safety arising from the mining operations.

Employers, workers, self-employed persons, contractors and visitors at a mine have new duties that are additional to the more general requirements of the legislation. The new duties largely relate to complying with the health and safety management system for the mine and complying with reasonable health and safety directions from the site senior officer.

In addition to the requirements for hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control under WHS Regulations 17, 18 and 19, the new provisions introduce the concept of systematic risk management, a consideration of the skills mix necessary to undertake the steps in the risk-management process and to ensure the process is led by a competent person, and require a written record of all risk assessments required by the regulations to be kept.

On the day of commencement (28 February 2011), many of the new requirements came into effect for all mines. However, for existing mines, there is a phased-in introduction of some of the more complex requirements relating to a health and safety management system for a mine and major hazard management plans (except where required by inspectors). The phase-in arrangements vary. In some cases, the total number of hours worked per month by all persons at the mine is used to determine which arrangements apply.

Where a health and safety management system is required, it must be implemented by two months after commencement day, at a mine where the number of hours worked is 3000 or more per month; or 1 January 2012, where the number of hours worked at a mine is less than 3000 per month.

Where a major hazard management plan is required for inrush and flooding, airborne dust, powered mobile plant or electricity, it must be established by two months after commencement day. This applies regardless of the size of the mine.

This phase-in period doesn’t exempt mine operators from normal work health and safety obligations, nor does it excuse them from addressing major hazards during the phase-in time. The requirements under the WHS Act to make the workplace safe continue to apply regardless of the phase-in provisions.