Submission to RSHQ Consultation Paper. Facilitating High Reliability Organisation behaviours in Queensland’s Resources Sector and Modernising Regulatory Enforcement
For those interested I have attached my submission sent to RSHQ and its Senior Officers, the Resources Minister and the Transport and Resources parliamentary Committee.
It consists of a 21 page submission plus 3 attached reference papers.
Bereaved Family Members’ Views of the Value of Coronial Inquiries
Work fatalities, bereaved families and the enforcement of OHS legislation
Conclusion
The real, identified, obvious and most problem is the failure of how risk management processes are used and implemented on Queensland coal mine sites and the seemingly deliberate inaction from the now RSHQ to do anything about it.
This is acknowledged by both the Brady Report (Recommendation 5) and the RSHQ Consultation Paper (pages 11 and 21). (Appendix A).
It is a failure of the correct hierarchy of controls where hard controls such as elimination of the hazard are not practised.
Every Workplace Safety and Health legislation in Australia requires the Duty Holder, (Obligation Holder) to apply the Hierarchy of Control for the management of risks that cannot be reasonably practicably eliminated, except for a Queensland Coal Mine.
As a matter of urgency Legislate to Amend the Coal Mining Act to clearly reflect that a parent company and its officers holds direct obligations under section 39.
Immediate Reintroduction of Mining Warden/Coroners Court for every Mining Fatality in Queensland is essential.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Do not enact any Legislation calling up wording such as High Reliability Organisations.
- As a matter of urgency Legislate to Amend the Coal Mining Act to clearly reflect that a parent company and its officers holds direct obligations under section 39.
- Immediately Mandating by Legislation the hierarchy of controls and in particular hard controls and their application to deal with unacceptable levels of risk that cannot be reasonably practicably eliminated
- Immediate Legislative change to reintroduce a Mining Warden/Coroner Inquiry for every Mining Fatality.
- The provision for a discretionary power to allow for extensions of time (up to 12 months) for the submission of reports after an incident has occurred. Only by the CIOCM after being provided an incident report as currently required after the current one month and on the clear proviso that the final Report will be published for distribution
- Immediate publishing of all proposed changes (including the reasoning) to the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act and Regulations that have been recommended by the UQ Expert Legal Assessment CMSHA, CMSHR and Recognised Standards Report; endorsed by the Coal Safety and Health Advisory Committee (CMSHAC) and provided to RSHQ to develop into draft Legislation.
- RSHQ be required to publish findings of all of its existing and future Fatality Nature and Cause Investigations, Coal Mine Worker Complaint Investigations, and other incidents/HPI’s that RSHQ formally investigates
- RSHQ be required to immediately publish the Grosvenor Inquiry Recommendations feedback from the SSE’s including any templated documents.
- RSHQ and the CIOCM to publish what if any actions that will be taken to ensure enacting of Grosvenor Inquiry Recommendations at each Mine
- RSHQ be required to publish the mapping the Mines and Parent companies have done about mapping their status as an HRO.
- To be appointed as a supervisor a person must be able to perform the tasks they are supervising (Competence means Competence for a task at a coal mine is the demonstrated skill and knowledge required to carry out the task to a standard necessary for the safety and health of persons.)
- Invite Professor Michael Quinlan to do a Independent Study into Qld Mining Safety, specifically relating to Pathway 7: Failures in Regulatory Oversight
FOREWORD
Enshrining High Reliability Organisation in the Qld Mining Legislation should be rejected totally.
It is nothing more than a social interaction theory.
