I am a qualified mining engineer with a manager’s ticket and I am also a qualified commercial pilot. The training for both professions has many similarities:

• Both require a thorough knowledge of relevant legislation.
• Both require a thorough knowledge of engineering, particularly electrical and hydraulics systems.
• Both require a thorough knowledge of external influences (geology for mining and meteorology for aviation).
• Both require a sound knowledge of human factors.
• Both require an in-depth knowledge of performance and operational parameters.
• Both need to know where they are going (navigation for pilots, surveying for miners).
• Both are responsible for machines that cost many millions of dollars.
• Both are responsible for health and safety.
• Both are responsible for people’s lives in a potentially hazardous environment (thunderstorms at 35,000 feet are quite hazardous and the traffic up there is quite dense).
• Both must be good communicators.
• Both need professional qualifications that take years to gain.
• Both need ongoing training.

It is this last item where I believe the mining industry is sadly lacking behind the aviation industry.

Throughout their careers, professional pilots are endorsed on all new equipment they use. They are trained in hi-tech simulators before being allowed on the “real thing”. They are then checked and rechecked every six months to ensure they are competent. They must have additional currency checks every 90 days. Pilots write SOPs and must learn and test them in the simulators first. On new routes they are checked out by training captains before going online. Every conceivable emergency situation is practised in simulators and all pilots are drilled in these procedures.

What do we do in the mining industry?

The mining industry is already heavily regulated and these days there is more paperwork to be completed than ever before. Managers and engineers spend more time ensuring compliance with rules and regulations than performing the job they were originally trained to do.

In my opinion we are light years behind other industries in the way we train our managers, our supervisors and our operators. Every year we are losing essential mining skills and experience that are not being adequately replaced.

How many management/mining courses are there specifically for longwall coordinators?

How many practical mining courses are there specifically for longwall supervisors?

How many practical mining courses are there for longwall operators?

How many longwall mining simulators do we have?

How many professional trainers can teach longwall operators how to negotiate a fault zone or cut a good horizon? How do we teach people how to prevent roof falls and fix them when they do happen?

These questions require some serious thought into the future.