Cliff Stanley will be presenting at the Mine Rescue and Emergency Management 2011. For more information about the event, please visit www.minerescue.com.au or call us on 02 9229 1000. Alternatively, email us on enquire@iqpc.com.au Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Mining IQ for all the latest news, articles and interviews for all things mining.

1. Effective Mine Rescue, Best Practices and
Mine Re-entry
Mining IQ’s Interview with David Cliff, Associate Professor at the
Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre at The University of
Queensland
Mine Rescue and Emergency Management 2011
www.MineRescue.com.au
Mining IQ
How do you devise a mine site emergency management plan? Any best
practices?
There are a number of guides that can be accessed to assist in the
development of plans including relevant Mines Rescue Guidelines and MDG
1020, 1022 and 1029. The management process promoted by QMRS MEMS
is also an excellent starting point. In most states there are also legislative
requirements and AS4804 contains additional information.
How do you actually measure the efficiency of your emergency
response plan?
It is not efficiency but effectiveness that matters. This is best tested by trial of
the system. Key issues are robustness and timeliness of response. The
system must function effectively at all times, thus there must be 24 hour
access to all necessary resources. The chain of command must be clear and
always available. The information required to manage any incident needs to
be available in a form that can be readily used and it must be reliable. The
system must be able to cope with any reasonably foreseeable event.
In your opinion, what effect will the National OHS Harmonisation
process affect the way mine sites operate?
I do not expect that it will have a major impact. It may make things easier for
mines to operate as their parent companies often operate across borders.
This will allow for transplanting systems and consistency of systems between
operations.
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2. We know that’s impossible to plan for every contingency and scenario,
so how do you decide what to draft detailed plans for?
The plan should undertake a risk assessment process accessing information
from past events. Due diligence needs to be applied to flesh out potential
scenarios and variations. In particular care needs to be taken to identify
potential bottle necks so that they are removed.
Mine re-entry is a contentious issue as it can put more lives at risk, so
what are the signs that it is worthwhile to re-enter a mine?
From a rescue perspective if there is a chance that people may be alive then
re entry is warranted provided it can be undertaken safely. Greater
uncertainties will be tolerated where there is clear evidence of life still
existing. Mines Rescue services are currently reviewing mine re-entry
guidelines in an effort to reduce the subjectivity as much as possible and to
ensure that systems are in place optimise the chance of re-entry.
Cliff Stanley will be presenting at the Mine Rescue and Emergency
Management 2011. For more information about the event, please visit
www.minerescuecom.au or call us on 02 9229 1000. Alternatively, email
us on enquire@iqpc.com.au
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @Mining IQ for all the latest news,
articles and interviews for all things mining.
Associate Professor David Cliff is an Associate Professor at
the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre at The
University of Queensland. His primary role is the
undertaking of applied research and consulting in health
and safety in the mining industry.
Previously Associate Professor David Cliff was the Safety
and Health Advisor to the Queensland Mining Council, and
prior to that Manager of Mining Research at the Safety in Mines Testing and
Research Station. In these capacities he has provided expert assistance in
the areas of health and safety to the mining industry for over nineteen years.
He has particular expertise in emergency preparedness, gas analysis,
spontaneous combustion, fires and explosions. In recent times he has also
devoted a lot of energy to fitness for duty issues particularly fatigue
management. He has been a member of the organising committee for the
level one emergency exercises in Queensland underground coal mines since
their inception in 1998. He has also attended or provided assistance in over
30 incidents at mines.
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