Does Western Australia need its own Standard 11 mining induction safety training course?

Over the past few years, there have been many shocking fatalities in modern mines; something that should never happen.

The question is: why are fatalities occurring in Western Australia?

Western Australian has a reputation for being the most unsafe mining State in Australia.

WA is not the only State to experience fatalities owing to unsafe working conditions, however it seems Western Australian mine workers are exposed to greater risks than workers in others States.

The Western Australian government has committed to totally upgrading the safety legislation in the mining, petroleum and major hazard facilities (MHFs) sectors.

New legislation is currently undergoing reform, which when pushed through the WA parliament will go a long way to saving lives.

The safety executive director of the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum resources Simon Ridge said his department was seeking stakeholder input into the process. Typically, this is a standard response from governments to issue a statement that is non-committal and invariably leaves everyone asking the question, “will anything really be done about it?”.

There are many options open to the WA government ranging from making one unified act that covers all resource sectors, partially consolidating the current safety acts, or leaving the acts as they are.

We feel the last statement about ‘leaving the acts as they are’ is simply something that ought never have been considered. Here we have a WA representative putting forward an option to leave things as they are, potentially paving the way for more deaths to occur because of slack legislation.

At iMINCO, we publish information to help assist people get a job in the mines, but we also want them to be aware of their safety training obligations. Through our connections, the Standard 11 can be made available in most capital cities and smaller locations close to the mining acttion.

The Standard 11 mining induction program has literally saved many lives

In Queensland, the Standard 11 mining induction program has literally saved countless lives and prevented many accidents occurring. The vision of the Qld government to implement the Standard 11 has allowed Queensland mining and resources operations to become the safest on the planet.

“convenient locations around Australia”

The 2 day Standard 11 course is held in convenient locations around Australia, making it easy for most people to attend face-to-face with others who wish to learn about mining procedures and protocols.

The Standard 11 mining induction course is delivered at this stage over 2 days in a classroom environment, although there is a pre-reading assignment that must be completed before the classroom training starts. This is to give attendees an insight into the mining and resource industry’s safety requirements before attending the course.

Highly experienced trainers

Highly experienced trainers are hired to deliver the Standard 11. It is a requirement under Queensland law, that all trainers MUST have previous experience in a mining environment, or they can not be deemed competent to deliver the course. This once again highlights the benefits of the Standard 11, because another layer of compliance has been added to the whole training process.

You may not know this, however it is good information for anyone considering getting into the mines in Qld. All mining training programs are strictly monitored by government agencies whose job it is to maintain the high standards of training throughout the industry.

Training organisations who deliver the Standard 11 mining induction course are frequently audited for compliance and accuracy, assuring all students receive the best training available.

Western Australian mining safety training

As you can see, Queensland leads the way in mining safety induction programs like the Standard 11. Western Australia used to promote a standard called MARCSTA, however this is unsupported now, hence the reason for the WA government stepping in and doing something about it.

Given the history of decision-making processes by government, iMINCO hopes there will be a new standard of safety training and compliance created for the WA mining and resource sector. Too many lives have been unnecessarily lost owing to a raggedy system that should never have been allowed to exist in the first place.

Safety first – always!