Safety failures shadow Queensland mining in 2023

The year 2023 has already proved to be a safety nightmare for Queensland mining, with two fatalities and a slew of “near misses”.

There have been dozens of high risk incidents recorded at Qld mines so far this year.

The spectre of worker deaths haunts Queensland’s rich but dangerous mining sector and 2023 has already delivered a slew of “near misses” that could have left families shattered and miners in mourning.

In the first quarter of the year, Resources Safety and Health Queensland recorded 148 high-potential incidents, or serious safety breaches, 10 serious accidents and two fatalities after Dyland Langridge and Trevor Davis died in the Dugald River underground mine disaster near Cloncurry.

Mining and Energy Union Queensland district president Stephen Smyth said the first six months had been one “one of the worst” in terms of incident numbers.

“We track and map every month of incidents,” he said.

“For the month of May, there were 79 more incidents than the month of April.”

At one site, there was an unplanned detonation of explosives after a blasted piece of ground had not been cleared for a misfire.

At one site, there was an unplanned detonation of explosives. Picture: RSHQ

“An unplanned detonation of explosives occurred while using an excavator fitted with a rock-breaker attachment, to break rock in the floor of a quarry,” RSHQ said.

In another incident, an excavator travelling on a mine road struck high voltage overhead power lines, “breaking the power lines and causing a fire from the lines arcing on the ground”.

RSHQ said there were no signs on the road identifying the power lines and no markers on the lines to highlight the difficult-to-see lines.

At a site on April 13, a fireball ignited inside a dump truck with an operator at the wheel.

The operator safely evacuated.

There have also been multiple rollovers, crushed fingers and vehicle collisions across the year, with some workers suffering serious injuries.

At a mine site in March, a steel shard projectile penetrated a worker’s leg while he worked with a sledge hammer to remove an excavator drive sprocket.

A worker at BHP’s Saraji mine near Dysart suffered five broken ribs, back and pelvis fractures, substantial bruising and cuts over his body after his dozer rolled multiple times on January 24.

The MEU wrote to Resources Minister Scott Stewart on June 12 requesting a meeting to address the surge in failures.

There have been multiple collisions on Queensland mine sites across 2023. Picture: RSHQ

“The current state of affairs needs to change and change now,” the email reads.

“We respectfully request for a meeting with yourself to discuss the current state of affairs around the extremely large number of these incidents.”

It is understood the Minister will meet with union members in July.

The trendlines in HPIs are different on surface, underground and quarry mines, according to RSHA data.

Underground mines have recorded an increase in HPIs from 2019, rising from about 130 per year in 2019 to around 175 already this year.

HPIs bulged across 2022 with more than 200 incidents recorded.

Surface mines have recorded a comparatively stable number of HPIs from 2019, though there was a bulge in incidents in 2022.

Quarries, meanwhile, have recorded a lower number of HPIs across 2023 compared to 2019.

Mr Smyth said a range of issues, including fatigue, inadequate training and an influx of new workers onto mine sites had likely contributed to the rash of near misses.