BHP Billiton set a production record for the nine-month period to March 2017 at its five Queensland coal mines.

Improved stripping and mining performance, higher yields at its Caval Ridge and Saraji mines and increased wash plant utilisation helped the company report a 2% higher overall metallurgical coal production for the nine months to 31 million tonnes.

The Queensland coal industry’s contribution of $32.7 billion for 2015-2016 supported more than 180,000 jobs.

The coal industry spent $11.3 billion in Queensland on more than 10,700 local businesses and almost 500 community organisations, according to the Queensland Resources Council.

Overall, resources contributed $2.1 billion in royalties to the Queensland government last financial year, which helped fund such things as infrastructure, police, nurses and teachers and the buildings they occupied.

Interspersed in the good news about increased productivity there have been some freakish safety incidents that remind us that to keep safety standards require constant vigilance and a culture of not cutting corners.

Then there is the ongoing problem confronting the industry – black lung disease – which requires the industry, government and unions to be focused on creating a regime of checking and reporting that is of sufficient rigour and thoroughness that this insidious disease is kept in check.

This terrible scourge that afflicts both underground and open pit coal miners was thought to be eradicated from the Australian coal industry decades ago. However, it is rearing its head again and it really does require an all-out national offensive to keep it at bay.

It was encouraging to see Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dr Anthony Lynham shout out for Australian radiologists to double-check Queensland coal miners’ x-rays in the latest in the suite of Queensland government measures to tackle the re-emergence of black lung disease.

Since July, Queensland coal miners’ compulsory chest x-rays have been checked twice – once by an Australian radiologist and again by US-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health expert.

“The US-based reading has been an interim measure until Australian radiologists have gained the internationally-recognised B-reader qualification,” Lynham said.

“An all-Australian service will now mean faster results, and certainty, for our coal miners.”

All Queensland coal miners have compulsory chest x-rays before they join the industry, during their time in it and when they leave. Dual-reading of those x-rays is one element of the three-pronged approach announced in July by government, industry, medical and union representatives to protect coal workers from black lung.

Also as part of the black lung measures, from January 1 this year companies provide dust monitoring data to the Mines Inspectorate every three months for publishing online. Black lung is a notifiable disease, meaning mining companies must report known cases to the Queensland Mines Inspectorate. 

Coal miners permanently retiring from the industry can ask their employer for a retirement examination, including respiratory function and chest x-ray. 

Lynham said the tender would be supported by strict conditions on facilities taking the x-rays to ensure staff taking x-rays were suitably trained and qualified.

Black lung has re-emerged as an Australian coal mining industry problem and it needs its own well-trained and focused professional staff to monitor and eventually stamp out the disease.

Hogsback thinks that it is the right of any coal mine employee to turn up at a mine and feel safe and not have to worry about his health and safety during and after his working life. 

Hopefully the measures being put in place will help achieve just that.