Have your say on safety reporting in the Queensland mining industry

Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health Kate du Preez said the Queensland Mining Industry Safety Reporting Survey aims to understand the state of the safety reporting culture in the mining industry by identifying the opportunities and barriers to achieving a responsive and effective safety reporting culture.

“The survey will independently survey workers in Queensland's coal mining and mineral mining and quarrying industries to establish a baseline of the safety behaviours exhibited at mine and quarry sites,” Kate said.

“It will also provide valuable insights and focus areas for industry and the advisory committees to drive continuous improvement in safety reporting culture.”

Kate said the survey had progressed through cognitive testing and pilot phases in recent weeks which provided an opportunity to ensure the robustness and suitability of the questions across all sectors, as well to test the effectiveness of the methodology.

“A survey like this has not been attempted in the Queensland mining industry before, so it is a vitally important piece of work for the industry,” she said.

“I encourage every person who works at a mine or quarry, from operators to the mine manager to complete it.

“A positive safety reporting culture is an essential element of any safe and healthy workplace and requires a commitment to engagement, learning and continuous improvement.

“This survey presents an opportunity for sites to take some time to sit down and have a conversation about safety and I encourage all sites to participate.”

Kate said the survey was developed in collaboration with the Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and the Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee and was split into four sections which ask workers about safety behaviours demonstrated by their team, their supervisors, and their managers at their worksite.

“The survey also includes demographic questions which will be used to segment responses into groupings to help identify potential trends within certain segments of the workforce,” she said.

“Privacy and confidentiality are paramount in this process, and the survey will not ask for any personal information that could be used to identify workers.

“As Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health, I will have sole access to the data, only for the purpose of analysing responses of industry as a whole.

“All reports and analysis will be de-identified and reported in aggregate and the survey is being carried out in compliance with the Privacy Act 1988.”

The survey is available online or in hard copy and takes 10–15 minutes to complete.

For more information go to https://www.commissioner.rshq.qld.gov.au/safety-survey.