The Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2022, which came into effect last year, has marked a significant milestone in ensuring the safety and compliance of small mines.
The regulatory implementation project, spearheaded by the NSW Resources Regulator, within the Department of Regional NSW, aimed to assess the compliance of small mines with this new legislation as highlighted in the 2023 Annual Compliance Priorities.
The Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2022 introduced several new guidelines and requirements to enhance safety standards in the mining industry. The primary objective of this project was to ensure that mine operators were fully aware of these changes and were taking the appropriate measures to comply with the law.
The Resources Regulator completed a thorough compliance program, targeting small above ground mines (Tier 2A), to assess how operators are implementing the regulation changes.
Of the 44 mines the Resources Regulator inspected, 30 of them were issued 34 notices including eight improvement notices and 26 notices of concern, relating to compliance with new legislation including:
- Updating safety management plans
- Communicating changes to mine workers
- Notification of high-risk activities
- Updating statutory functions
- Updating dust limitations and monitoring requirements
- Updating emergency management plans.
The Resources Regulator remains dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of safety and compliance in the mining industry in NSW.
View the full Compliance priority report (PDF, 662.16 KB)
View the media release (PDF, 87.66 KB)
