An industry-wide survey into the state of safety reporting culture in Queensland’s mining sector has been released by Queensland’s Minister for Resources and Critical Minerals, Scott Stewart, and Interim Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health, Andrew Clough.
The survey aimed to identify strength and opportunity areas in Queensland’s mining industry to achieve a stronger safety reporting culture, with more than 7,500 mine workers surveyed.
One of the industry strengths identified was that teams were found to look out for each other and support each other to work safely and frontline leaders encourage teams to take appropriate action if something feels unsafe.
It also identified that mine workers usually report their safety concerns and are encouraged to do so by leaders.
Opportunity areas for improvements identified in the report included making reporting systems clearer and easier to use, improving feedback to workers on the outcomes of incidents, better recognition of positive safety behaviours and better involvement of frontline workers in safety initiatives.
Mr Stewart said, “This is an incredibly important piece of work that heard directly from workers, and I welcome its release.
“That’s why I travelled with Andrew Clough to Curragh and Oaky Creek mines to release the survey results directly to resources workers.
“The purpose of the survey is to identify strengths and opportunities in the mining industry to ensure there is a strong safety reporting culture in one of our most important industries.”
Mr Stewart said there are always more opportunities to improve safety reporting culture which is why the survey is important.
“Safety is my number one priority and we must do everything we can to make sure workers get home safely.”
Mr Clough said, “The report establishes a baseline of the safety reporting behaviours exhibited at mine and quarry sites and sets a benchmark for the industry to measure its safety reporting culture against in the future.”
Mr Cough said the survey was conducted by his office in cooperation with the tripartite Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee.
“The report identified a number of opportunity areas for industry and the safety and health advisory committees to target for further research and continuous improvement.”
Featured Image: Queensland Minister for Resources and Critical Minerals, Scott Stewart, discussing the results of the survey in front of a crowd at Oaky Creek mine. Image Credit: Queensland Government.
