Building a safer minerals industry

A new health and safety code for the mineral industry is a work in progress.  By PETER ATKINSON

The MinEx Health & Safety Council was set up by the minerals industry in 2005 to promote improvement in the health and safety performance of the industry; develop a reliable health and safety statistical database for the industry; and represent the industry’s views on all health and safety matters.

Since its inception, the council has built an information website at www.minex.org.nz; created industry approved codes of practice for surface and underground mining; and set up a confidential incident reporting system as the first step towards acquiring reliable whole of industry statistics to measure its performance.

Some 20 industry members and two independent co-ordinators were involved in the industry codes of practice and associated guidelines (one for underground mining and another for surface mining and quarrying) which were posted on the council’s website early last year – to assist mineral companies to manage their health and safety related processes and risks

“This has been a long and intensive process for a number of industry volunteers to whom we owe a debt of gratitude,” says MinEx board chairman, Peter Atkinson.

“All operators agree that the target for the industry must be zero accidents,” he says.  “MinEx has drawn widely on available health and safety information in preparing these documents, which have been peer reviewed by several industry experts including two former Department of Labour mines inspectors.”

The MinEx codes of practice were not submitted as ‘approved codes of practice’ under Section 20 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act, and will remain just as an industry agreed standard for use in the management of health and safety.

While every care has been taken in preparation of the industry documents, says Atkinson, there may be some omissions or inaccuracies .

“They can not replace each company’s health and safety management system and accordingly our legal advisors have reviewed them and a legal disclaimer has been placed on the website.”

He also says the documents are “dynamic rather than static” and MinEx has appreciated advice from users of any errors or omissions, and suggestions for improvement.

Over the past year the codes have been subjected to practical assessment by industry operators and their feedback has been collected for the first annaul review which is happening shortly, says Atkinson, to ensure they are effectively meeting industry health and safety requirements. The first review will include considering relevant aspects of the code of practice produced by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In September last year the MinEx Health and Safety Council asked industry members to supply health and safety related performance data to build up database to provide a true picture of the current overall health and safety performance of the industry.

MinEx is now preparing an incident reporting system to provide clear and accurate statistics for the industry on health and safety related incidents. Analysis of these statistics will be used to further improve health and safety standards for the industry.

“This will ultimately allow benchmarking between New Zealand and other countries (eg Australia, USA), and will allow MinEx to monitor the industry’s performance improvement over time,” says Atkinson. “We believe this will provide members with a valuable resource to improve their safety performance.”

All information has been aggregated (no individual companies or their statistics are identified) and all returns were destroyed after data was entered into the MinEx database, and the identity and details of the submitters are not disclosed to any other member of MinEx or any other person or organisation.

In future returns, members will be asked to provide monthly statistics in order to build the database in more detail.

“The performance information will be presented as a 12 month rolling average, updated monthly, and available for viewing on the MinEx website,” says Atkinson.

Given that the industry has no comprehensive reliable incident statistics on which to base its longer term health and safety management strategy, it is critical that members provide information to establish this consolidated statistical database, iterates Atkinson.

“The information will be consolidated for review and reporting purposes and will not be attributed by MinEx to any individual or company.”

Atkinson says the council looks forward to the continuing member support and participation in this work.

“This year a new focus for MinEx is to consider steps to develop higher professional standards for mine and quarry management within the industry. This will involve matters of professional recognition, ongoing competency requirements and transitional arrangements from the present system.”