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Work health and safety reports

Certain mine operators must provide a work health and safety report to the Resources Regulator each financial year as required by the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2022. These reports must be submitted within 30 days after June 30 each year.

Work health and safety reports contain information on injuries and illness, as well as other information, such as the total number of hours worked at the mine. This type of information is used for preparing key statistical data on injuries and illness in the mining sector.

Which operators need to submit a work health and safety report?

Coal mines

Operators of coal mines must submit a work health and safety report for each mine each financial year unless the only mining activity carried out at the mine during the financial year was ‘exploration’.

Operators of coal mines that are not classed as ‘exploration only’ will be notified via email that a work health and safety report is available for submission in the Regulator Portal. These operators will need to log into the portal and submit a work health and safety report for each mine.

If a coal mine is classed as ‘exploration only’, a work health and safety report is not required, a report will not be generated in the Regulator Portal and operators do not need to take any further action.

Metalliferous and extractives mines

Operators of metalliferous and extractives (non-coal) mines must submit a work health and safety report for each mine each financial year or declare that they met the following exemption criteria:

  • The only activity carried out at the mine during the financial year was ‘exploring for minerals’, or
  • The total number of hours worked (including additional shifts and overtime) at the mine during the financial year was less than 10,000 hours. For operators of multiple mines, the exemption only applies at an individual mine when the total number of hours worked at that mine is less than 10,000 hours during the reporting period.

Operators of metalliferous and extractives (non-coal) mines that are not classed as ‘exploration only’ will be notified via email that a work health and safety report is available for submission in the Regulator Portal. These operators will need to log into the portal and submit a work health and safety report for each mine or declare that they met the exemption criteria.

If a metalliferous or extractives (non-coal) mine is classed as ‘exploration only’, a work health and safety report is not required, a report will not be generated in the Regulator Portal and operators do not need to take any further action.

Exploration sites

Operators of exploration sites (where the only mining operations being carried out are ‘exploring for coal’ or ‘exploring for minerals’) are not required to submit work health and safety reports. If a mine is classed as ‘exploration only’, a work health and safety report will not be generated in the Regulator Portal and operators do not need to take any further action.

Petroleum sites, underground small gemstone mines, opal mines and tourist mines

Operators of petroleum sites, underground small gemstone mines, opal mines and tourist mines are not required to submit work health and safety reports. If a mine is classed as a ‘petroleum site’, ‘underground small gemstone mine’, ‘opal mine’ or ‘tourist mine’, a WHS report will not be generated in the  Regulator Portal and operators do not need to take any further action.

More information on class exemptions

For more information on the class exemptions, please refer to the Fact sheet - Work health and safety reporting class exemption (PDF, 129.37 KB).

When to submit your report

The mine operator must submit a work health and safety report for the financial year within 30 days after June 30 each year.

How to submit your report

Work health and safety reports are submitted through the Regulator Portal. You should already have account details to the portal to be able to report for all mines operated by you.

Should you require a user account set up for the portal or to add a mine you operate to your existing user account then please submit a request to add a PCBU or operator. Requests must be submitted by a person in authority or a statutory position holder relevant to that operator or mine/s. When submitting a request, please provide the account holder’s full name, position title, email address (must be unique), contact phone number and a list of mines the account holder will need access to in the portal.

Information to help you prepare your report

This guide includes information and instructions to help you complete the report and is also available on the Regulator Portal.

For more detailed information about incidents and injury reporting please see the Notification of incident and injury guide. (PDF, 217.66 KB)

If a report was not generated for your mine and you are required to submit a report, please email cau@regional.nsw.gov.au.