The quarterly incident figure also represents a reduction from the quarterly average of 182 recorded for the previous four quarters.

"Notifications decreased for most principal hazards, including fire or explosion (58 to 52), air quality or dust or other airborne contaminants (43 to 40), ground or strata failure (22 to 18), subsidence (four to two), spontaneous combustion (three to one) and mine shafts and winding systems (one to none)," the regulator said in its quarterly review.

Gas outburst notifications increased from zero to 1 and no change was observed in notifications related to the principal hazards of roads or other vehicle operating areas (44) and inundation or inrush of any substance (one), which remained steady for the third consecutive quarter.

"Incident notifications decreased slightly for electrical engineering control plans (25 to 23), with notifications across the other control plans recording increases - mechanical engineering (36 to 60), electrical engineering andor mechanical engineering (37 to 53), explosives (13 to 17) and ventilation (zero to two)," the regulator said.