The same meaningless PR words from Resources Minister Scott Stewart about ever continuing potentially fatal HPI’s in Qld Coal Mines
Scott Stewart continues his latest Yes Minister standard sort of responses that he continues to utter every time he is publicly confronted by the press about the latest HPI’s that have managed to leak into the public sphere.
His responses to the latest incident at the Saraji where an excavator with a trainee and a trainer in the cab, fell off a bench are below. This is the second excavator reported to have fallen off a bench at Saraji in the last year.
The Saraji Mine is also where Allan Houston was fatally injured when the dozer he was operating rolled 18m down an embankment and he drowned in a pool of mud on the 31st December 2018.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/mackay/digger-rolled-at-saraji-open-cut-mine/news-story/aeb5d7a9c55c89f39a25162b12d3402f
Digger rolled at Saraji open cut mine by Janessa Ekert
Resources Minister Scott Stewart said there had been an “an increase in industry reported high potential incidents in recent months”.
“I, with the regulator, encourage industry to report high potential incidents or near misses, to demonstrate that mines are identifying these incidents for corrective action,” Mr Scott said.
As a result he said he expected there to be a higher rate of reported high potential incidents over time “as a sign of a strong reporting culture”.
“I am also looking to see the rate of serious accidents decrease as a result of mines learning from high potential incidents and putting better protections for workers in place,” he said.
“The regulator continues to work with mines to ensure they are investigating near miss events to identify improvements for the safety of workers.”
In November 2022 there were amendments to the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 to ensure anyone “in safety critical roles at coal mines could raise concerns about safety without fear for their employment”.
“It is about ensuring workers are safe and that they can confidently report incidents when they occur and take action to prevent incidents that result in serious injury or illness to workers,” Mr. Scott said.
So according to the Minister the increasing number of HPI’s are not due to an actual increase in the number of incidents.
It must have been so troubling for the Minister to be asked unscripted questions about an ever increasing number of HPI’s when confronted with a picture of the latest rollover incident to make the public sphere.
https://cabinet.qld.gov.au/ministers-portfolios/scott-stewart.aspx
After all, for the last 3 months he has not seen fit to release any sort of press release about any Mining Safety and Health matters except to say the lung health check bus for retired miners is still travelling around.
His diary for months from July 2022 to the end of May 2023 reflects more of the same.
The only time Minister Scott’s diary mentions the word COAL was when he attended the re-opening of the Acland Mine on the 3rd of May.
He did manage to still be in Brisbane to attend the Reds v Waratah with an interesting group on the 6th of May.
He never went to an active Coal Mining Town besides flying in for the Moranbah Miners Memorial day on the 4th of November but did not visit any Mines or organize any meeting with local coal miners.
He did however visit a couple of Metalliferous mine Mines for scripted media events, such as Ravenswood and George Fisher Mines and also Sun Metals with the Premier.
The Minister has also met Ian MacFarlane from the QRC and Anglo Coal multiple times, as well as the BMA Asset President and many many other senior Mining and Gas Company representatives.
He attended numerous conferences including giving speeches at some as well as going to the UK on a 10 or so day trade mission.
The only time he would seem to mention the word safety and pretend to take any notice is
When he has to attend Miners Memorial Services and utter phrases like “The loss of so many lives is an inexcusable tragedy. We have learnt so much from the accidents of the past, they will not be repeated. Their loss will never be forgotten”. They then make their escape back to Brisbane or Townsville by the fastest mean possible when some impertinent coal miner may ask some hard questions
Attend the annual speech fest from Senior Public Servants, Mine Management, University Professors and Consultants. General piss up, networking and back slapping event held in the internationally known mining Centre of Queensland, the Gold Coast Glitter Strip, otherwise known as Qld Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference.
