Safety in the spotlight following the death of two miners in Australia

A wall collapse at an underground mine in New South Wales, Australia claimed the lives of two workers, sending the total number of mining deaths in that nation to nine since July 2013. That is more than four times higher than the total number of mine fatalities recorded during the previous financial year, The Australian reported.

The accident occurred at the Austar coal mine, operated by Yancoal. The mine was closed for a time in 2003 after a fire.

Chinese-backed Yancoal Australia purchased the mine in December 2004 and reopened it two years later with the introduction of a new longwall mining technology to extract the coal.

Peter Jordan, Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) president of the northern mining and New South Wales energy district, said there had not been previous safety issues raised at the operation but, commenting on the number of deaths in the mining industry, he said it was obvious more needed to be done on safety.

“We have reasonably good legislation requiring how mine operators work in the industry but I still question the industry to say have we got it right,” he said.

“I don’t believe we can say we have it right when we are still having deaths in the mining ­industry.”

Fortescue Metals Group’s safety record was questioned earlier this year after it recorded its second death in four months at its West Australian iron ore operations. Since July 1 last year.

An investigation is under way at Yancoal’s Austar mine in the Hunter Valley region. It employs about 400 people.

“A full and detailed report will be prepared for the coroner, and any lessons for improved safety outcomes will be implemented in the sector,” NSW Resources Minister Anthony Roberts said.

In 2003, an underground fire on Christmas Eve forced the closure of the then-named Southland Coal Mine. It was subsequently shut down and Yancoal purchased the mine in December 2004, with production resuming in 2006.

Jordan called on the industry to be proactive rather than reactive on mine safety.

“Obviously, this (Austar incident) hasn’t been detected. Could it have been? That needs to be answered and, if it could have, why wasn’t it?” he said.

“If it couldn’t have been detected under the current mining plans and systems we have, then why not, and the industry has to be challenged on that.”