FOCUS: Methane Events & Labour Hire engagement in Safety
The Queensland Government established the Board of Inquiry (Board) in May 2020 after a serious accident at the Grosvenor mine, and a series of other high potential incidents (HPIs) at underground mines in the State between 1 July 2019 and 5 May 2020.
The Board was tasked with examining methane exceedance HPIs at Grosvenor, Grasstree, Moranbah North, and Oaky North underground coal mines.
As part of its work, the Board also considered the impact of labour hire in the mining industry and the perception that labour hire workers were unwilling to speak up about safety issues.
Findings and recommendations: What’s new?
Many of the Board’s findings and recommendations (relevant links annexed at the end of this article) are specific to each mine site and their operators.
However, after reviewing all 848 pages of both Reports, which set out some 196 findings and 65 separate recommendations, a question still lingers – do the Board’s findings and recommendations tell mining industry participants anything new?
Take for example Recommendation 4 in Part II that “Coal mines regularly assess production rates and adjust them as necessary to ensure they do not result in gas emissions exceeding the capacity of the gas drainage system.”
Do coal mine operators need to be told to adjust production to keep their operations safe? One would hope not.
Similarly, the finding that there is a perception that labour hire workers who raise safety concerns might jeopardise their job would frustrate many mine operators given how stubbornly pervasive (and misconceived) that perception is.
Unsurprisingly, the media seized upon findings that coal mine workers were exposed to unacceptable levels of risk because of gas drainage inadequacies. Their focus was also occupied with the perceptions about reprisals against vocal labour hire workers, with predictable outrage from those with certain vested interests. But again, these problems are hardly unknown to the mining industry.
Perspective: Are we losing context?
The Mine Warden’s Report on the disaster at Moura No. 2 in 1994 made recommendations about spontaneous combustion management, mine safety management plans, and gas monitoring system protocols amongst other things, and was effectively the catalyst for the overhaul of mining legislation in Queensland.
And yet that same mining legislation that was born out of the Moura No. 2 disaster could not prevent 47 fatal accidents in Queensland mines and quarries from 2000 to 2019 which were the subject of the Brady Review. The Brady Review recommended industry should adopt the principles of High Reliability Organisational theory to reduce the rate of serious accidents and fatalities in Queensland mining.
Despite the methane events that occurred in 2019-2020, across all mining sectors (including quarries), the serious accident frequency rate reduced in the 2019-2020 financial year by 30 per cent according to Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RHSQ).
The Board’s findings and recommendations have not been great publicity for such a critical industry, but credit should be given where it is due; industry has taken the Brady Review and recent calls to improve safety outcomes seriously and adopted fundamental changes (Safety Reset) to address worker safety in a naturally hazardous environment. While the number of serious accidents is still too high, the frequency appears to have been discernibly influenced by these initiatives.
The ‘production over safety’ allegations following the Board’s Reports risk further damage on the industry’s social licence to operate and adds to the reservations felt by overseas investors, financiers and underwriters which are growing more serious than many industry participants care to admit.
The go-forward: Why does this matter?
Wide ranging reviews and inquiries into disasters inevitably lead to a re-assessment of the regulatory approach. The Board’s Reports are no different.
The Board recommended that RHSQ take advice on potential amendments to the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) regarding obligations of persons at a coal mine, refining the application of industrial manslaughter, clarifying the application of reprisals provisions and the content of Principal Hazard Management Plans.
Put plainly, this is likely to mean greater personal accountability and subsequent prosecution pitfalls for statutory officers.
While the writers are certainly not expecting industry to sit back and rest on its collective laurels, we do question whether more laws, tougher laws, and better enforced laws will address the ‘failures’ identified in the Report. Practical support and application of meaningful measures is what brings about cultural change. Not just the stick.
However, boards, operating companies and contractors should expect that further regulation, extending the reach of industrial manslaughter to a wider range of individuals and entities will be a consequence – with the option of transferring some of this risk to insurance being either prevented legislatively or by diminishing insurer appetites.
Any participant in the mining industry – from the board room to the coal face – who does not see the inevitable creep of regulation towards a bigger stick is not paying attention.
Additional Reading
Part I of the Board of Inquiry’s Report regarding the HPIs that occurred at the Grasstree, Moranbah North and Oaky North mines is here.
Part II of the Board of Inquiry’s Report regarding the HPIs that occurred at Grosvenor mine and the methane explosion incident is here.
Queensland Mines and Quarries – Safety Performance and Health Report 2019-2020 is here.
PROFILES
LIAM FRASER
Partner
liam.fraser@kingstonreid.com
Liam delivers practical, commercial and tailored solutions to his clients’ workplace relations and work health and safety issues. For the past decade, he has exclusively practised in this area of the law, handling some of the most complex and sensitive issues across the construction, mining, resources, government and agribusiness sectors in Queensland. His clients value his knowledge, expertise and empathetic approach to any issues relating to workplace relations and work health and safety compliance. The fact Liam worked in the construction industry before starting a law career is a bonus for them because his advice is underpinned by a practical approach to resolving workplace relations issues, with a real focus on knowing and understanding how his advice will impact their operations, whether it be reputation or commercial. Liam regularly delivers training to clients on all aspects of workplace relations and work health and safety law, reinforcing a key Kingston Reid principle – prevention is better than cure. His experience in handling post-incident responses for clients and guiding them through what are often difficult situations is also highly valued.
ADAM BATTISTA
Broking Director
adamb@creinsurance.com.au
For more than 20 years, Adam has played an integral role in assisting clients to develop effective risk transfer strategies to manage their complex and evolving risk profiles. He has a proven record of excellence in designing tailored insurance programs that respond clearly to unforeseen circumstances, and securing business continuity by protecting assets, liabilities and balance sheets. Adam has experience across open cut and underground mining; professional and contractor mining services; civil and industrial construction; as well as geotechnical, structural and general engineering. His insurance specialties include: High hazard, complex Property and Business Interruption programs; Mobile Plant and Equipment; Contract Works and Delay in Start-up; Public and Products Liability; Annual and project Professional Indemnity; and Directors and Officers Liability including Initial Public Offering (IPO) listing
For more information about CRE’s resource and mining insurance expertise visit www.creinsurance.com.au
For more information about Kingston Reid’s work health and safety experts visit www.kingstonreid.com
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