NSWMC CEO Stephen Galilee said the awards were an important part of the industry’s continuous improvement and would deliver better outcomes for the industry, workforce, and local communities.
“As always, our awards entrants were all of a very high calibre, demonstrating mining’s commitment to innovation and the pursuit of excellence,” he said.
NCIG won the health excellence award for its “Bounce” health and wellbeing program.
In 2012 NCIG introduced the program to positively impact the health and welfare of NCIG employees, contractors and their families by managing safety risk together with the overall productivity of its workforce.
The program incorporates assessment, prevention and treatment strategies.
However, the key element that sets this program apart is setting health initiatives based on ongoing identified workforce health risks and needs.
Annual themes have included weight loss, improvement to body-mass index, increasing functional movement, improved nutrition and increasing fitness and movement.
NCIG also won the environment excellence award for its offset delivery program.
Since 2012, NCIG has progressively implemented its Compensatory Habitat and Ecological Monitoring Program.
The program is focused on conservation and offset measures for the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog (Litoria aurea) as well as species of migratory shorebirds protected under international and federal environmental laws.
NCIG has restored degraded land and areas previously occupied by Endangered Ecological Communities to sites of high biodiversity value, all within a national park.
This has been done with numerous stakeholders including government and non-government organisations to help deliver enhanced ecological outcomes for the Hunter Wetlands National Park.
Coal & Allied, which is being sold by Rio Tinto to Yancoal, took out the community excellence award.
Its Enterprise Facilitation program was established in 2015 in response to the economic impact of the previous mining downturn, the need for economic diversification in the Upper Hunter region and as a Social Licence improvement project.
Free advice is provided to assist local entrepreneurs, business owners and community groups to establish, strengthen or expand local businesses and social enterprises.
This work is supported by a network of volunteers with experience and networks across various business disciplines.
More than 100 clients have been helped, at least a dozen new businesses have commenced operation and a number of social enterprises have also been assisted.
