Coal bosses urged to demonstrate safety progress

RSHQ’s Chief Inspector of Mines Peter Newman wrote to coal executives a fortnight ago raising concerns about their plans for the implementation of recommendations by an inquiry into the 2020 Grosvenor mine explosion. The State Government plans a Parliamentary Inquiry into how the coal industry has acted on the recommendations of the Queensland Coal Mining Board of Inquiry into that blast, which seriously injured five workers, as well as a string of high potential incidents at underground coal mines involving methane exceedances. In a letter dated July 28 - before a Parliamentary Inquiry was announced by government - Mr Newman requested site senior executives at the state's underground coal mines submit their plans to his office by October this year demonstrating progress on those matters. "My recent engagement with some SSEs at underground coal mines has raised a concern that none that I have spoken with have a clear implementation plan for recommendations made to industry," he wrote. "While some SSEs have referred to work being done at a corporate level, and external agency reviews of current activities against the board’s recommendations, none has produced an implementation plan, clearly indicating which recommendations will be adopted at their mine, allocated resources, individuals responsible for tasks and the due date for implementation. "Reflecting on the recommendations made from inquiries into the Moura No.2 and No.4 mining disasters – which have seen the industry take approximately 26 years to fully implement – we collectively need to ensure that the BoI recommendations are implemented in a timely manner. "It is incumbent on us all to ensure that the lessons from the gas exceedances in the industry and the explosion at Grosvenor on 6th May 2020 are not forgotten and the BoI recommendations are implemented as relevant to your operation." The message included an implementation tracker containing relevant industry recommendations for mine sites' use and Mr Newman said he would be seeking regular updates on progress. The board directed 31 recommendations to the coal mining industry, three of which were directed specifically at the Anglo American-owned and operated Grosvenor mine. Senior representatives from Anglo American provided a briefing to the Queensland Parliament Transport and Resources Committee in August 2021 outlining the company’s response to the Queensland Coal Mines Board of Inquiry. And it plans to extend an invitation to the Committee to visit Grosvenor mine during the Parliamentary Inquiry to showcase the changes that have been made at that site. Peak industry body the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said it was continuing to work closely with coal companies about the Board of Inquiry's recommendations and was providing Resources Minister Scott Stewart with quarterly progress updates. "Minister Stewart has now received two face-to-face briefings from coal companies with underground operations about how they're managing the risks of methane exceedances and implementing recommendations related to exceedances, taking account of the individual risk profile of their mines and operational requirements," QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane said. He said it was unclear which operations' executives the Chief Inspector was referring to in his letter, so the QRC could not comment on the observations about implementation plans that arose from those interactions. "The QRC's experience is that companies are continuing to implement recommendations relevant to their business activities in a timely manner,” he said.

Coal bosses urged to demonstrate safety progress

Industry Queensland

Related News

State backs Isaac Country Universities Centres

HPI animation doing the rounds for safety

Megatrends report points to mining tech revolutions

Get access to breaking mining news, now.