The impact of legislation and other factors on the safety performance of Australian coal mines

摘要

The theme of the thesis is to investigate the current safety paradigm in the Australian coal mining industry and establish if the safety performance is improving. The number of fatalities, serious bodily injuries and high potential injuries is unsatisfactory according to community standards. People are still being killed and there is little evidence of a sustained improvement trend over the last decade. Lost time injuries have reduced dramatically, but are now plateauing and over the last few years along with high potential injuries and other safety indicators are trending upwards. This research has found that hundreds of serious injuries are not being reported which would have a significant effect on safety indicators in the Industry.Fatigue and awareness issues as well as travel times to work are having a major impact on safety at work, which is particularly evident when employees are working 12-hour shifts. The rapid expansion of the mining industry has required the growing use of contractors, hence creating a more inexperienced workforce. Another significant finding is that there is a close association between the level of fatalities recorded and the growing use of contract labour in the industry.This research has demonstrated that the current approach to prosecution is counter productive, as it inhibits thorough safety investigation and creates a defensive rather than a proactive safety culture. This approach has resulted in unwillingness by companies to examine the root causes of accidents and incidents for the fear of being prosecuted.This research has shown there is a lack of trust between mining companies, the unions and the inspectorate. It has been stated that miners lives are at risk because of the shortage of Inspectors in Queensland and that the inspectorate was not meeting its compliance obligations.There is a "disconnect" between what mining companies aspire to achieve at the corporate level with their safety management systems and what is achieved at the coal face.The thesis has demonstrated that safety performance is deteriorating and in order to improve this situation recommendations have been made regarding prosecution, contractors, fatigue, safety and health management systems, hours of work, audits and remuneration for inspectors.