He expressed concern about risk-taking contractors upon the release of the Queensland Mines and Quarries Safety Performance and Health Report 2012-13 on Friday.

“Over the last 10 years, nine out of 10 people who died in the coal mining industry, and 10 out of 20 people who died in the metalliferous mining industry, were contractors,” Bell said.

“By the very nature of their role, contractors are often engaged to perform non-standard or specialist talks that in some cases require a higher level of risk management than would normally be needed.

“I’m concerned that some mining operations regard these risks as not their responsibility, whereas in my view they should review and approve the contractor’s processes and procedures before the work begins, and integrate them into the site’s safety and health management system.

“There are senior managers at these sites whose job is to manage the risk as required by law for everyone who’s working there – and that includes contractors.

“No one in the industry should ever lose sight of very high priority we place on getting mine workers home safe and healthy to their families every day.”