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1.1 What are these guidelines about?

These guidelines can help persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) to meet their duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and associated regulations. Mine operators and quarry operators are examples of PCBUs. In these guidelines PCBUs are referred to as ‘you’, unless otherwise specified.

The guidelines are grouped into five parts:

  • Part A – Introduction
  • Part B – Risk management in extractives
  • Part C – Planning and design
  • Part D – Managing safety risks for extractive operations
  • Appendices.

These guidelines cover applicable requirements under the following legislation:

Additional legislation applies in specific situations. See the References in Appendix B for a full list of the relevant acts, regulations and standards.

1.2 Who should read these guidelines?

These guidelines are mainly for:

  • mine and quarry operators
  • mine and quarry managers
  • employers
  • site health and safety representatives.

However, the guidelines may also be helpful for:

  • workers
  • contractors
  • health and safety advisors
  • consultants
  • engineers.

The practices suggested in these guidelines provide principles to follow and examples.

The control measures required in a situation will depend on the extent and nature of the risks involved. High-risk situations require higher levels of control measures than low-risk situations. Examples given do not cover every possible situation and may not be relevant to all sites. You should complete your own risk assessments and take competent advice when implementing health and safety management systems.

Alternative methods may be used. These should be as safe, or better, than those set out within these guidelines.

1.3 What operations are covered by these guidelines?

These guidelines apply to opencast mines, alluvial mines and quarries (referred to in this guide as extractives operations). For full definitions for these types of operations, see Schedule 3 of HSWA and Regulation 3 of the MOQO Regulations.

If you are not sure whether your operations meets one of the definitions below, you should get legal advice.

1.4 What is an opencast mining operation?

There are two types of opencast mining operations:

  • an opencast coal mining operation, which is any mining operation associated with the extraction of coal and where no person works underground
  • an opencast metalliferous mining operation, which is any mining operation associated with the extraction of minerals and where no person works underground.

In these guidelines, these types are collectively called ‘opencast mines’.

For the purpose of these guidelines, an opencast mine includes:

  • all the workings when exploring for coal; or mining for coal or minerals
  • all the surface extraction workings, including preparatory and abandonment works, associated with the opencast mine
  • tips (or dumps), including stockpiles, associated with the opencast mine
  • settling ponds or tailing dams associated with the opencast mine
  • areas used for the processing of extracted materials (including crushing, screening, washing, drying, bagging and ore processing)
  • the buildings and structures at the mine that are used for the working of the mine
  • common areas (for example roadways and railways, but not public roads or railways under the control of a rail company)
  • an opencast tourist mining operation.

1.5 What is an alluvial mining operation?

An alluvial mining operation is a mining operation carried out above ground associated with extracting:

  • gold from river deposits of sand or gravel
  • ironsand from sand or gravel.

If you extract and process other minerals found within ironsand deposits, this could mean that the operation is defined as a mining operation.

For the purpose of these guidelines, an alluvial mine includes the following:

  • all the surface extraction workings including preparatory and abandoned works
  • tips (or dumps) associated with and close to the site where the material is extracted
  • working stockpiles associated with and close to the site where the material is extracted
  • settling ponds or tailing dams associated with and close to the site where the material is extracted
  • areas used for the preparation of extracted materials (including crushing, screening, washing, drying, bagging and ore processing)
  • the buildings and structures at the mine that are used for the working of the mine
  • common areas (for example roadways and railways, but not public roads or railways under the control of a rail company).

1.6 What is a quarrying operation?

A quarrying operation is an activity carried out above ground for:

  • extracting any material (excluding coal or any mineral), from the earth, or
  • for processing any material (excluding coal or any mineral) at the place where it was extracted or at a place adjacent to, or in the vicinity of, that place.

It includes the place where the extracting or processing is carried out.

To determine whether your operation is a quarry, ask:

  • Do you extract material (excluding coal or minerals) from the earth?
  • Do you process the material at the place it is extracted or another place nearby?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, it is a quarrying operation.

For the purposes of these guidelines, a quarry includes:

  • all the surface extraction workings including preparatory and abandonment works
  • tips (or dumps) at the place (or at a place nearby) where the material is extracted or processed
  • working stockpiles at the place (or at a place nearby) where the material is extracted or processed
  • settling ponds at the place (or at a place nearby) where the material is extracted or processed
  • areas used for processing extracted materials (including washing, drying and bagging), where the processing is carried out at the place (or at a place nearby) where the extraction is undertaken
  • the buildings and structures at the quarry used for the working of the quarry
  • common areas (for example, quarry roadways and railways, but not public roads or railways under the control of a rail company)
  • quarries in a forest, on a farm (see point below for when a farm is not a quarry) or on Crown or public land (for example, council reserves or riverbeds) regardless of whether the extraction is of an intermittent nature or not.

For the purpose of these guidelines, a quarry does not include:

  • places on a farm where material is extracted or processed to be used on that farm, or
  • areas where material is extracted, processed or moved for roading or other civil, commercial or residential construction projects at the place of the extraction.

1.7 Safety-critical roles and competency requirements

Workers in safety-critical roles must hold a current relevant certificate of competence (CoC) for their role at the operation. Being granted a certificate demonstrates their qualifications and experience for that role.

Opencast mines

Responsible person

The responsible person for a tourist mining operation, suspended mining operation or a coal exploration operation is the mine operator.

The responsible person for any other mining operation is the site senior executive (SSE).

SITE SENIOR EXECUTIVE

The mine operator must appoint a site senior executive (SSE). The SSE may be appointed to more than one mining operation if the mine operator has more than one. WorkSafe may advise that the SSE appointment is unsuitable for reasons outlined in Regulation 10 of the MOQO Regulations.

The mine operator must ensure the SSE has the resources and authority to carry out their duties.

The SSE must hold a CoC as a site senior executive. Their duties include:

  • developing, implementing and maintaining the health and safety management system (HSMS) at the mining operation
  • making sure a risk appraisal and risk assessment process is developed and used in the HSMS
  • appointing other safety critical roles.

MINE MANAGER

The mine operator must appoint a person to:

  • manage the mining operation, and
  • supervise the health and safety aspects of a mining operation

Opencast coal mine managers must have an A-grade opencast coal mine manager CoC.

Metalliferous mine managers with:

  • more than four workers (A-grade operation) who usually work at an opencast metalliferous mine, may hold a CoC as an A-grade quarry manager
  • four or fewer workers (B-grade operation) who usually work at an opencast metalliferous mine, may hold a CoC as an A-grade quarry manager or a CoC as a B-grade quarry manager.

OTHER SAFETY CRITICAL ROLES

The SSE must appoint workers to carry out other safety critical roles including:

  • mine surveyor
  • supervisor.

Alluvial mines

RESPONSIBLE PERSON

The responsible person for an alluvial mine is the alluvial mine operator.

ALLUVIAL MINE MANAGER

The alluvial mine operator must appoint a person to:

  • manage the alluvial mining operation, and
  • supervise the health and safety aspects of the alluvial mining operation.

For an alluvial mine with more than four workers (A-grade operation), an alluvial mine manager must hold one of the following current, relevant CoCs:

  • first-class mine manager, or
  • A-grade alluvial mine manager, or
  • A-grade quarry manager.

For an alluvial mine with four or fewer workers (B-grade operation), the manager must hold one of the following current, relevant CoCs:

  • first-class mine manager, or
  • A-grade alluvial mine manager, or
  • A-grade quarry manager, or
  • B-grade alluvial mine manager, or
  • B-grade quarry manager.

Quarries

RESPONSIBLE PERSON

The responsible person for a quarry is the quarry operator.

QUARRY MANAGER

The quarry operator must appoint a person to:

  • manage the quarry operation, and
  • supervise the health and safety aspects of a quarrying operation.

For quarry managers with:

  • more than four workers (A-grade operation) who usually work at their site, they must hold an A-grade quarry manager CoC
  • four or fewer workers (B-grade operation) who usually work at their site, they must hold a minimum of a B-grade quarry manager CoC.

When counting the number of workers to determine which certificate is needed, only workers (including contractors) who are involved in extracting or processing materials are counted. Office workers, the manager and people transporting materials (for example truck drivers) from the site are excluded.

More information

For more information on the requirements and application process for each of the CoC types, see New applications

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