Safety in Australia 's Mining Sector Essay

Safety in Mining in Australia

The mining industry in Australia is traditionally renowned for establishing best practices that are geared towards promoting the health and safety of miners as they engage in their various activities towards improved productivity. Through the use of these best practices and safety solutions, Australia's mining sector has developed to become a global leader with regards to safety and health. According to the Australian Trade Commission (2014), the health and safety of miners in the country's mining industry has partly been attributable to the use of an effective world class regulatory and policy framework. Moreover, the Australian government collaborates with industry players and stakeholders to ensure that the mining sector is free from injuries, fatalities, and disease. Currently, the Australian government utilizes a Safety Engineering Model that has helped in dealing with unsafe acts and unsafe conditions as shown in Figure 1 below (Cliff, 2012).

Figure 1: Safety Engineering Model (SEM) in Australia's Mining Sector

Source: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6625/75fe4001b93872dfa4aed58b76b4f29875e8.pdf

Despite the Australian mining industry being renowned as a world leader in health and safety of miners, recent increase in accidents and unfortunate incidents have generated concerns regarding the safety of this industry (Stutsel, 2014). In essence, recent accidents have indicated that there is need for improved health and safety solutions in the mining industry in order to achieve the goal of zero harm. Evekall, Gillespie & Riege (2008) state that the increase in incidence rates beyond the target of zero harm in Australia's mining sector have demonstrated the need for improving health and safety in the entire mining industry in Australia.

The increased occurrence of safety incidents indicates that safety in Australia's mining sector is slightly deteriorating and needs to improve. The lack of improvement of safety in this sector is also attributable to the failure to achieve the target zero harm through Australia still maintains her status as a global leader in the health and safety of miners. Recent reports and surveys conducted on this industry have shown that there is need to re-evaluate and rethink the presumptions and foundations that underlie the currently utilized health and safety solutions in Australia's mining sector. Australia experienced a spike in the number of fatalities in the mining sector in 2013-14 as compared to 2012-13 period as shown in Figure 2 below. These statistics shows that rather than improve, safety in Australia's mining industry is seemingly decreasing.

Figure 2: Fatalities…