NSW Minister for Mineral Resources Ian Macdonald announced a pilot program for developing OHS culture, to be overseen by the NSW Mine Safety Advisory Council, yesterday at the NSW Minerals Council's Occupational Health and Safety Conference.

The pilot program was developed from a CEO Culture Change Summit in Sydney in 2008 of all key players in the NSW mining industry which determined that non-technical issues needed to be addressed to make breakthroughs in safety.

The new pilot program is part of a world-leading OHS Culture Action Plan which includes building an OHS culture capacity throughout the industry; enabling sites to benchmark themselves; fostering the connection of systems; and marketing what a world-leading OHS culture may look like.

“Industry leaders, unions and government were brought together by the New South Wales government for the summit so we could start working together on further safety improvements for the mining industry,” Macdonald said.

“It is clear that addressing non-technical issues at all levels of the industry will enable continued improvement in OHS performance.”

NSW Minerals Council chief executive Nikki Williams said building culture was an essential part of the industry’s safety and health journey.

“There’s nothing more important than the health and safety of our workforce. Coming home from work the way we left is essential,” Williams said.

“The New South Wales mining industry has a very good record on health and safety but we’re committed to innovation and improving our performance. It’s a continuous process, requiring the support and involvement of workers at the coalface to local contractors, right up to the CEO because safety is everyone’s responsibility.

“Like so many things in life, people perform better when they are empowered to use their skills to solve a problem. We want to empower our champions to help build the capacity for a mature approach to health and safety in our workplaces.

“The Mine Safety Advisory Council deals with the big safety issues and we’re looking forward to working more with unions and regulators for a minerals industry free of fatalities, injuries and diseases.”

Macdonald said all sections of the mining industry and unions would continue playing their part in making further OHS performance improvements under the umbrella of the NSW Mine Safety Advisory Council.

“Injuries are still occurring and industry still has some way to go to reach our objective of zero harm,” he said.