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Digging Deeper project

The Digging Deeper project is a research project into work health and safety in mining and provides insights and recommendations for industry.

It was commissioned by the Mine Safety Advisory Council in 2007 to address a number of the recommendations of the Wran Mine Safety Review. The recommendations were focused on fatigue, consultation, work health and safety management systems and safety incentive schemes that had been reported to be having negative health and safety impacts in the NSW mining and extractives industry.

Background

The Digging Deeper project was commissioned by the Mine Safety Advisory Council and the department, who engaged an independent consulting consortium lead by Shaw Idea Limited to undertake the project. Their report showed that, at the time of the project, up to 30% of mine sites are proactively working towards best practice in work health and safety. A further 43% of sites were currently in a transitional stage and about 27% were reactive to work health and safety issues. By working closely with industry, the Mine Safety Advisory Council is addressing the areas flagged as requiring improvement.

Digging Deeper identifies an underlying theme across the industry: the need to get the basics of work health and safety management right. The Platinum Rules (PDF, 413.88 KB) outline the fundamental steps the industry should take to more effectively manage work health and safety.

Resources

To find out more about the project and the research and recommendations, view the following resources: