A focus on failure is a key attribute for mining operations aspiring to act as high reliability organisations, according to Resources Safety and Health Queensland Chief Inspector of Coal Mines Peter Newman.

Mr Newman is this year’s chair for the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference (QMIHSC), where HROs are a hot topic.

He recently urged Queensland coal industry leaders to consider the mindfulness of leadership teams and coal mine workers on safety in a period where high prices were driving a push for production, and to reflect on recent serious accidents in the sector.

Organisations living by HRO principles had active corporate memory, an ongoing sense of chronic unease, and they celebrated their failures – continually learning from their own failures and those of others, Mr Newman said.

HROs would address process failures immediately and completely, he said.

“What are we, as regulators, seeing in the industry? An increasing need for my inspectors to suspend part or whole of operations either because those failures haven’t been addressed or they have been addressed yet this hadn’t been sustained in the operation,” he said.

‘Walking the talk’ by engaging with mine workers is another key area Mr Newman highlights as a HRO habit.

He also stresses the need for expertise rather than authority to take precedence, especially in terms of risk assessment and risk management responsibilities.

As regulators, Mr Newman said the coal inspectorate aimed to put 80 to 90 per cent of its efforts into the education space and the balance in the discipline and punitive space.

“Obviously the balance will vary depending on the regulatory performance of the operator.”

Mr Newman will speak at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference opening afternoon this weekend.

He will also present a session; Regulation to Education, Lessons Learnt and Future Direction of the Regulator, along with RSHQ Chief Inspector of Mines, Mineral Mines and Quarries Hermann Fasching on Tuesday.

The 2022 QMIHSC will run from lunch time on  Sunday, August 21, and culminate with the Awards Gala Dinner on Wednesday night (August 24). It is being held at The Star at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast.

To register to attend in person or online, visit www.qmihsconference.org.au