The Australian mining industry’s determination to reach its goal of zero harm is reflected in the latest safety performance statistics released by the Queensland Government and reported by the Queensland Resources Council. Lost time injury frequency rates for the State of Queensland fell again from 3.8 to 2.9 injuries per million hours worked in 2010-2011. Days lost to injuries were down from 14,325 days to 11,027 days while the lost time injury plus disabling injury duration rate fell from 34.4 days to 27.4 days per injury.

Overall, the severity rate for lost time injury plus disabling injury also fell from 311 days in 2009-2010 to 230 days lost per million hours worked. However, Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche says that the three fatalities that occurred during the year were still three too many. “Two of the fatalities were vehicle-related accidents at surface coal mines while the third resulted from an earth collapse on a small opal claim. All were tragedies for their families, friends and work mates. However, I’m pleased to see the government’s assistance with the safety of people working in small operations such as opals and gems through its small mines initiative. And, QRC is actively involved in development of proximity detection systems to reduce the risk of vehicle-related accidents. The huge attendance at our Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conferences run annually in Townsville by the industry, government and unions is evidence of our joint commitment to the safety of our employees. Queensland’s mining industry continues to rank among the safest in the world, and this is in no small part to the work being undertaken to continuously improve health and safety regulation in Queensland.”