The Western Australia Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) has submitted its statutory review of the Mines and Safety Inspection Act 1994 eight months ahead of schedule.
Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore said the statutory review of the Act was not required until after December 1, 2009, however, due to the current increase in the number of minesite accidents, it was deemed appropriate to bring the review forward so that a number of important studies could be considered as part of the review.
“Commissioner Stephen Kenner from the IRC made a total of 119 recommendations in the report that can be broadly divided into recommendations about the role and operation of the regulator, and recommendations about the Mines Safety Inspection Act and its administration,” Moore said.
“A recommendation by Commissioner Kenner that a risk management model of safety and health regulation be implemented in the Western Australia mining and minerals processing industry will be carefully considered by the government.”
While Kenner recommended that a differential approach to safety regulation be adopted by the mining industry, including the construction of a model safety plan by minesites, he concluded that small open cut mines and quarries employing 10 or less employees should be exempt from preparing a safety model.
Commissioner Kenner’s recommendation that the mining engineering discipline remain a core competency for all senior Inspectorates is also up for discussion in Parliament.
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