General safety advice
Safety in the mining sector needs to be top-of-mind for every employee, every single day. It needs to be woven into the fabric of the day-to-day culture. We want all mine workers to be safe.
Drugs and alcohol
Drugs and alcohol not only affect a worker’s productivity, but also their attentiveness and ability to react and take action during an emergency. Operating heavy machinery and working with toxic or explosive substances while under the influence of drugs or alcohol pose a high risk.
A worker’s use of drugs or alcohol, whether casual, recreational or arising from a dependency, has the potential to create unacceptable safety risks for anyone working at a mining site.
Mine operators and PCBUs have a responsibility to prevent workers, who may be under the influence of drugs and alcohol, from engaging in activities that could have lethal consequences for themselves, their co-workers, and the public.
For additional information and guidance material, visit these helpful links:
Fatigue
Fatigue is more than feeling tired and drowsy. In a work context, fatigue is mental and/or physical exhaustion that reduces your ability to perform your work safely and effectively.
Workers impaired by fatigue are less responsive to changing circumstances, leading to an increased likelihood of incidents. Everyone in the workplace has a duty to make sure fatigue does not create a risk to anyone’s health and safety.
For additional information and guidance material, visit these helpful links:
Mental health
Mental health, just like physical health, is an important part of work health and safety. While there are many aspects in life that can lead to poor mental health, mine operators and PCBUs have a responsibility to take a ‘reasonably practicable’ approach to create a safe, healthy and productive workplace.
Factors impacting workers’ mental health include anxiety, impacts of chronic pain, physical illness, depression, stress, a previous mental health diagnosis, drug use and workload.
Mines and quarries that adopt mental health programs achieve better outcomes. This is seen through improvements in engagement, morale, productivity and employee satisfaction, which minimising the impacts of absenteeism, presenteeism, long-term leaves of absence and workplace injuries.
For additional information and guidance material, visit these helpful links: