A safety reminder for the holiday season from State Mining Engineer Andrew Chaplyn
| Date: | Thursday, 20 December 2018 |
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The festive season is upon us - a time of year spent with friends, family and loved ones. Sadly, for some connected to the mining industry, it can be a reminder of loss and hardship.
In 2017-18, Western Australia had four fatalities and a further 303 people suffered a serious lost time injury – an injury that disables a worker for two weeks or more.
These figures are a reminder that we still have too many people being put in harms’ way while working in our mining industry.
While safety is improving we cannot, and should not, accept the current number of fatalities and injuries.
As a regulator, the department raises awareness and seeks compliance. We are also committed to thoroughly investigating incidents to provide safety information to the industry, which helps protect workers and safeguard the community.
Each and every person involved in the mining industry must also take responsibility for their own safety and of their workmates.
Take the time to think about your and your workmates’ safety, even if it’s a task that has been done a hundred times before, because it only takes a momentary lapse in applying risk controls for a tragedy to occur.
Whether you are an executive, manager, supervisor, worker or regulator, we all have a critical role to play in improving safety in Western Australia’s mining industry.
It is a role we all need to make our highest priority, because the costs of not doing so are far too high.
I wish everyone involved in Western Australia’s mining industry a happy, enjoyable and, most importantly, safe festive season and New Year.
