Published in March 2008 Australian Longwall Magazine

Q: You once said “there is no reason in this day and age why we should be hurting anyone below ground”. Can you explain your thinking behind this and the ways in which the Australian coal industry can achieve zero harm.

A: I firmly believe that. We work in an industry with hazards, not a hazardous industry – and there is a very subtle difference there. What we need to do is identify the risks, apply the hierarchy of controls and just "take 5" and think about what we are doing before we do it.

If you have a look around the coal industry there are definitely more people that have not been hurt than have had a significant injury. We have to start changing people's opinions. We need to get people thinking that it is not inevitable that you are going to get smacked.

If you have identified the risks, applied the controls and have "taken 5", there is absolutely no reason for someone to get hurt.

If you go through most of the incidents around, you will find out there has been a missing defence. There is something that should have been done and hasn't been. So, there is no reason in this day and age why we should hurt people, and we simply should not accept it.

Q: How can you get miners to "take 5"?

A: This is one of our biggest issues going forward. There are too many people that believe coal mining is a dangerous industry. And we have to change people’s opinion that no, it is not acceptable for people to take risks. It is not acceptable for people to take shortcuts. We need people to stop and think about what they do before they do it. If you can get people thinking that way, then we'll start to eliminate injuries.

The problem we have now is that we still have too many people that are cowboys – taking shortcuts, taking risks, to get the job done. They think they are helping people by doing it that way. Clearly they aren't. They're just not helping anybody.

Q: Do you think a safety culture is something that has to come from the management down?

A: I think it is and it is a culture that needs to be spread. I think it is a fair statement to say that most of the big companies and the senior people have a genuine desire to eliminate injuries. For whatever reason, whether it be altruistic or a financial point of view, they don't want people being hurt. It is not in a company's interest to continually injure people. They really need to drive that determination from the boardroom or the senior ranks down to the coal face. I think a lot of companies are doing that; it is about making sure your frontline supervisors are switched on to the zero harm approach.

I'm not going to suggest for a second it is easy but it is something that we, as an industry, need to desperately work on – to get that culture change in believing injuries are unacceptable. Years ago it was acceptable in society that we injured and maimed people; fortunately life has changed and we now recognise it isn't. We now just need to drive it further home.

Q: What aspects of your hands-on experience with underground coal mining over the past 41 years do you think will influence you in your new position?

A: The absolute need to identify risk through formal risk assessments of a significant task through to on-the-job mini risk assessments. The need to "take 5" is of paramount importance because once you have acted you can't turn back the clock. We need to have people thinking about what they do before they do it and make sure we have identified the risk.

Q: In 1971 you were working at Corrimal Colliery when a fatality occurred. How do you think this has affected you and the way you approach mine safety today?

A: What I learned from that is that a fatality is not a statistic, it is a human life and that life is vitally important to a person's loved ones. That particular fatality was an absolute tragedy; they all are. This one should never have happened. A few seconds of non-attention cost a young life. That was the life of a young guy who was studying medicine, who had a devoted girlfriend and very close parents. It touched many people and obviously it still does for me. To me life is too important. Work to me is a means to an end, but life is critical, and injuries and fatalities are just not worth taking the risk for.

Q: What do you see as the biggest safety issues in underground coal mining today?

A: Having people to make that cultural change, to believe you can work injury free. Making sure people are doing risk assessments to a correct and proper standard.

Unfortunately, what I have seen recently is a number of incidents where people were doing risk assessments, not to a standard but just because they felt something was needed. Some of the assessments were actually undertaken to justify taking shortcuts and bypassing one of the hierarchies of control. They're shonky to say the least and that is a real concern for me.

Q: How do you plan to tackle these issues?

A: It is fair to say Queensland has some of the best practice legislation in the world. The enabling legislation in this state is at the forefront in permitting people to undertake their tasks safely.

We need to ensure that that legislation is being adhered to. It is about talking softly but carrying a big stick. We will assist people wherever we can to make sure things are done safely but people need to be aware that if they are going to pull shortcuts, take risks – then there is a sting in the tail. Not that this is our preferred stance but people need to be aware that if required we will take whatever steps necessary to ensure the safety of all people in the industry.

I would much rather see that the way we do things is to analyse the safety statistics and factual information coming from effective incident analysis and then encourage industry forums on issues that are showing to be a concern

For example, we have had a couple of highwall failures recently in Queensland. One of the things we are looking at doing is organising an industry forum to look at best practice, similar to what we did with the fight or flight workshops. “Fight or flight” was about decision processes in an emergency situation and whether it was better to stay or attempt an escape, and research into this is still ongoing.