A report confirming Queensland’s strong safety performance has been welcomed by the peak industry body for the minerals and energy sector. Chief Executive of the Queensland Resources Council Michael Roche says the annual report by Queensland’s Commissioner for Mine Safety Stewart Bells shows that the severity and duration of injuries occurring on mine sites has reduced. “The severity rate and duration rate of lost time injuries fell by 23% and 25%, respectively,” said Roche. “However we can’t afford to be complacent. A death was recorded in a Queensland quarry in 2011-12, a stark reminder of the tragic consequences for friends, families and colleagues when things go wrong.

“‘It is also worrying to see that for the first time in many years the rate of lost time injuries per million hours worked (lost time injury frequency rate) has risen from 3.4 in 2010/11 to 3.9 in 2011/12.

“It’s also troubling that in our underground coal mines, the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) has increased from 4.2 to 6.8 over the same period.

“While it’s acknowledged that Queensland is recognised as having one of the safest mining industries in the world, we will continue to work with the independent government mine safety regulator and the mining workforce to ensure that it stays that way.

“The commissioner has flagged a possible cause of the increase in LTIFR being due to an influx of inexperienced workers, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with the Mines Inspectorate to determine whether this is an issue and if more needs to be done in the training of new recruits.”