Ben Carnell Principal Consultant, Sentis Accurate and timely reporting of safety incidents is a crucial component of a positive safety culture. These invaluable learning opportunities allow us to adapt, make improvements and prevent future injury. Yet, recent Australian data has found that on average, 31% of incidents go unreported and in some organisations this figure rises as high as 53%*. And it’s not just frontline workers failing to report; leaders and managers also underreport at alarming rates. Session outcomes:

• Explore insights from a global research study of 12,460 participants, including mining specific results and case studies
• Discover underreporting rates across team, leader and management levels
• Understand the three key drivers of underreporting and the risks to your business
• Learn strategies for addressing underreporting in your business

*based on a sub-sample of 6,899 participants in Australia.

Assoc. Prof. Geoff Dell Head of Transport and Safety Science Courses, Central Queensland University Accidents and injuries in Australia are at epidemic proportions, the annual direct costs to the economy are now over $80 billion and the associated long term social impacts and suffering of individuals and their families are immeasurable. Clearly, existing strategies and interventions are at best holding back the flood gates and there is a need to re-think the problem and devise new and more effective programs and solutions. The high consequence low probability (HCLP) industries, like the airlines and rail, have contributed only 0.4% to these costs. So, what are the lessons from the HCLP industries which could inform effective intervention in the others? One of the key differences between HCLP industries and others is in the way safety management is regulated, especially in relation to safety management systems, their content, implementation and effectiveness. This paper will present a clear picture of the accident and injury epidemic and contrast the key differences in the way LCHP industries typically manage safety and respond to issues, hazards and incidents. It will also offer some reasons why this epidemic may have evolved and yet largely remained under the radar of government and industry leaders and provide some guidance for the future of accident prevention and regulation in order to deliver a step change reduction in accident and injury occurrence.

Bipin Parmar Principal Engineer, Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy The potential for a gas or dust explosion, arising from misuse, failure or lack of maintenance of electrical equipment in underground coal mines is high. In order to reduce the risk of a failure, pre-overhaul audits on the Explosionprotected (Ex) certified equipment are conducted. Occasionally Simtars is involved with investigation or inspection of equipment after a failure resulting in an incident or accident. This paper will present various methods of collecting and analysing the information/data prior to the event, the actual event and post event activities. Examples of investigation or inspection work, conducted by Simtars, will be presented. These are:

• Investigation of circuit breaker failure
• Failures of electrical cable used in underground and open cut coal mines
• Fire Resistance and Anti-Static (FRAS) compliance of non-metallic materials used in underground coal mines

Results of incident investigation conclude with recommendations for the manufacturer or for the end user. In the examples presented, the circuit breaker failure indicated a manufacturing issue. The example associated with electrical cables indicated cable insulation being compromised probably due to cable crushing (vehicle run over) or poor handling practice. The FRAS issue indicated potential hazard for static discharge when used with compressed air in underground coal mine.