Mining

Work health and safety in the mining industry is regulated by states and territories.

New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia have separate mining work health and safety regulations.

Regulations for mining are covered under the general work health and safety regulations in the other jurisdictions with smaller mining industries.

A summary of the regulatory frameworks for mining in each jurisdiction is set out below.

Jurisdiction	Mining Legislative Framework
Australian Capital Territory, Commonwealth	Mining regulated under general work health and safety legislation without specific mining regulations.
Northern Territory, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria	Mining regulated under general work health and safety legislation with some specific mining regulations
New South Wales	General work health and safety regulations apply along with separate mining regulations
Queensland, Western Australia	Mining regulated under stand-alone mining health and safety legislation

Recent Developments

The model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act and the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations as adopted by the Australian Capital Territory, the Commonwealth, New South Wales and the Northern Territory apply to mining in those jurisdictions and will apply in Tasmania and South Australia from 1 January 2013.

Safe Work Australia has developed model Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations in cooperation with the National Mine Safety Framework (NMSF) Steering Group to be included in the model WHS Regulations. Once these regulations are finalised it is intended they will be progressively implemented by the jurisdictions.

For more information on the process for developing these regulations, go to the draft model Work Health and Safety Regulations and Codes of Practice for Mining.