Opportunities for Improvements in Safety and Health Management Systems for Coal Mines - An Auditor's Perspective

Auditing of Safety and Health (or Health and safety in NSW) Management Systems (SHMS) is an integral and essential process to make sure that an operation demonstrates an understanding of legislative requirements and complies with both the written law and its intent. Auditing SHMS in both NSW and Queensland has come a long way since the implementation of updated mining safety legislation that mirrors or relies on parent Workplace Health and Safety (WHS)or Occupational and Health Safety (OHS) laws. Intrinsic in this is the application of relevant Australian Standards on SHM and Quality Management. The audits in use may not fully address these parameters, and this paper attempts to identify some of these concerns, and hopefully suggest some areas for improvement in the systems and their auditing. The material for this paper comes from both the author’s experience, and experience of other external auditors including members of the inspectorates in both states.