Keeping Miners Safe

Share the Story:

Around the world, many miners celebrate December 4 as Miners Day and commemorate their patron saint, St. Barbara, requesting her continuing protection for their daily work.

For Coal Services, their company’s purpose ‘to protect’ ensures that keeping workers safe is the focus every day.

Wayne Green, General Manager Mines Rescue and Regulation & Compliance explained that the breadth of services offered by Coal Services’ businesses help protect the health and safety of those working in the NSW coal industry.

“There are almost 22,000 workers directly employed in the production of coal across NSW and more than 13,000 of those are in the Hunter region. At some stage during their mining careers almost every one of those workers will have visited one of Coal Services’ offices for services such as a medical or attending a safety training course,” he said.

Coal Services has played a key role in NSW coal mining communities in one way or another for nearly one hundred years. Mines Rescue’s roots were founded in emergency response in 1926, yet today the business is better known for helping mining operators to manage risk and operate safely through specialised safety training.

“Mines Rescue is still required to maintain a response capability should an incident occur at a mine, but the training we offer looks beyond emergency response. We emphasise building the skills and knowledge that focus on safety awareness to reduce incidents from happening in the first place.

“Our trainers have decades of hands-on industry experience which complements the classroom theory and practical demonstrations. The use of virtual reality also enables us to immerse workers into real-life scenarios but in a safe, simulated environment at absolutely no risk and with no impact on productivity.”

ATCF 12.1 Miners 1 3
Mines Rescue Consultancy Services

Mr Green said that safety training is critical in any hazardous industry but equally important is ensuring that health and safety policies are in place and that they are implemented and monitored on a regular basis.

“This is a side of safety management that can be difficult and complex, or even forgotten until it’s too late,” he said.

“We wanted to help employers to better understand and manage their work health and safety obligations, so we created a team dedicated to this function. It is a service that complements the work we do in safety training and emergency response.”

The team is responsible for providing safety and emergency management consulting and compliance services. This includes audit services, crisis and emergency management solutions, development and testing of safety management systems and risk scoping and assessment.

For more information about how Mines Rescue can help the health and safety of your workforce please visit www.coalservices.com.au

Share the Story: