In some sense this discrete approach makes sense. Safety is too important and too sensitive a topic to engage in mudslinging or investigation through the media.

On the other hand, the silence from management, at least in public, has had some workers allege a “culture of cover-ups” on sites through WA.

Either way, one thing that can’t be denied is the rising rate of contractor deaths in the state’s mining industry.

Changing tides

With such a small contractor workforce in the early years, fatalities in WA’s industry used to be dominated by the employee workforce.

From 1967 to the end of 2013 a total 366 workers died in WA’s industry, with employee deaths outnumbering contractors 241 to 125, respectively.

Taking a narrower view of these statistics shows that as the contractor workforce expanded over the years so too did its share in the accidents.

The trend culminates with a major turnaround from 1999-2013, with 39 contractors losing their lives compared to 19 employees.

DMP in the spotlight

On one level the rising rate of contractor deaths is not surprising.

Since 1967 the size of WA’s contractor workforce has expanded significantly and it makes sense this group would see more fatalities as its number grows.

One the other hand any death in the industry is cause for concern and given the trend isn’t reversing, the rising rate of contractor deaths is particularly serious.

With so many variables at play drawing big conclusions from safety records is fraught with danger.

A lack of hard data also makes dealing with different proportions a challenging task.

Nevertheless there are some key themes that dominate any safety discussion in WA, and Sher Associates principal consultant Mervyn Sher told MiningNews.Net the effectiveness of the Department of Mines and Petroleum as regulator was a key sticking point.

“It’s the DMP’s lack of backbone that sets the tone for the cowboy operators in the industry,” he said.

“Of course weak legislation does not help, however the legislation is at this time sufficient to control the cowboys, but the motivation of the DMP seems lacking.”

Safety ‘lip service’

Beyond the state regulator companies take responsibility for the safety of their employees, and workers themselves need to be accountable.

MiningNews.Net spoke to companies on both sides of the owner/contractor divide on this issue, but most weren’t willing to comment specifically.

Despite this timidity one thing that seems to unite contractors and owners alike is a strong commitment to safety principles.

On this topic Sher was also cynical.

“The contractors will all give you the lip service that safety is their highest priority. Even Fortescue Metals Group stated that and then went on to record yet another fatality” he said.

“It’s lip service. They all know that mining is inherently unsafe, has high risk scenarios and properly mitigating the risks impedes or impacts production values. So they do the minimum, supervision and management is almost negligible, and people get hurt or killed.”

Sher said a lack of strength from the DMP meant there was little accountability, particularly from individuals in management, for a company’s safety program.

An alternative view

While some contractors and miners are wary of entering the debate, the DMP did address many of the concerns raised by Sher.

DMP state mining engineer Simon Ridge told MiningNews.Net since 2004 there had been 12 successful prosecutions with fines totalling $A1.1 million, not including court costs.

There are a further two cases are under appeal, two prosecutions that have just commenced, one case about to be finalised, and nine other cases being assessed by the State Solicitors Office.

“Over the last 15 years the overall number of fatalities and the frequency rate for serious injuries has dropped,” Ridge said.

“This indicates safety across the industry is improving at a time when the overall number of workers in the industry has more than doubled since 1999.”

Ridge said the DMP played a key role in maintaining safety standards, but the final responsibility rests with employers themselves.

“While there will always be elements of risk involved in WA’s resources industry, as the regulator, we expect companies to address risks, have control measures in place and ensure the safety of its workers,” he said.

“While the department has an important role to play to ensure industry maintains high safety standards, the ultimate responsibility lies with operators and companies to ensure rigorous safety measures are implemented and maintained.”

While not engaging in key aspects of the debate, FMG also sent through a comment on safety.

“Fortescue’s highest priority is the safety of its people. Safety is an area in which we must be eternally vigilant and always willing to learn and improve,” a spokeswoman told MiningNews.Net.

“We believe the safety culture across Fortescue and our contracting partners is strong.”

Outside those areas safety is a complex issue, and there are more factors in play than the policies set out by the DMP or companies themselves.

Because a great number of WA’s contractors are fly-in fly-out workers the issue of fatigue and lifestyle factors are also important.

Training and education is another big issue, and culture has long been seen as a critical component.

All sides of the industry have worked at addressing those issues, and safety practices are under constant review.

Improving overall

Outside the rising contractor death rate, WA’s mining industry has been performing well in comparison to other parts of Australia.

Figures provided by Safe Work show the state’s mining industry recorded 16 fatalities from 2008-2012 at a rate of 3.87 per 100,000 workers.

On the other side of the country Queensland saw 7 deaths at 2.63 per 100,000 workers, the lowest in Australia.

Elsewhere New South Wales recorded 7 deaths at 3.75 fatalities per 100,000 workers, while South Australia saw 5 deaths at a rate of 10.92.

Those figures outline a strong performance from WA’s mining industry, and continued efforts could see fatalities fall further.

Alongside those efforts contractor numbers are now declining, and that could see different trends emerge over the coming years.

Looking forward only time will tell what’s in store for WA’s industry, and whether it bears good news for the state’s contractor workforce.