The Queensland Mines and Quarries Safety Performance and Health Report released last week by the commissioner for mine safety and health Stewart Bell shows a general improvement in safety and health performance of the state’s mines and quarries for most statistical indicators.

Lost time injuries are down from 346 to 296 injuries, disabling injuries down from 425 to 410 injuries, medical treatments down from 1166 to 924 injuries and high potential incidents down from 1044 to 1005 incidents.

Days lost to disabling injuries are down from 11,421 to 10,973 days and the lost time injury frequency rate down from 4.3 to 3.4 injuries per million hours worked, and LTI and disabling injury severity rate down from 312 to 293 days lost per million hours worked.

However, some statistical indicators showed the reverse with days lost to LTIs up from 13,971 to 14,874 days, the LTI and disabling injury duration rate up from 32.9 to 36.6 days per injury, and the number of permanent incapacities up from 7 to 39 injuries/illnesses.

“The duration rate is considered the most important measure of safety and health performance as it is a measure of the severity of injuries, not just the number of injuries,” Queensland chief inspector of mines Roger Billingham noted in the report.

“The increase in duration rate is of considerable concern. It indicates that, though the number of injuries is decreasing, the injuries that are occurring are still serious or are becoming more serious.”

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said improvements in a range of key safety indicators were welcome and continued improvements in the LTI frequency rate and total recordable injuries have further raised the bar for industry safety.

“There is no such thing as an acceptable level of death or injury and that’s why Queensland’s mining industry will maintain its highest focus on the health and safety of its employees,” Roche said.

“The QRC has been a strong advocate for improving the mines inspectorate’s effectiveness and through the enhanced reporting methodology now being used in this report, we are seeing employee safety and health in a sharper light.”

Commissioner Bell said were four fatalities in the industry this year, three of which resulted from the interaction of personnel with heavy vehicles.

“The first fatal accident was as a result of a truck rolling back and crushing its driver. In the second, a light vehicle drove into a heavy vehicle, and in the third a mucking unit in an underground metal mine drove into a stope.

“The fourth fatality occurred when a component of a mobile crushing plant fell on the worker during maintenance.

“Last year I initiated a program looking into the feasibility of proximity detection systems. This has been accelerated this year and I am confident that such systems will have a significant impact on the occurrence of personnel/vehicle interaction fatalities and injuries.”

Roche said the industry shared the concerns of the commissioner over the frequency of incidents involving vehicles and mobile machinery, and that is why the QRC is developing a comprehensive strategy for dealing with mine vehicle contact management.

“The safer interaction of people and machinery is a goal shared across Australian society and one that the mining industry is at the forefront of researching, improving and promoting to its employees,” Roche said.

“The QRC recognises there is some value in the adoption of proximity detection systems, but these address only a small part of the factors that are associated with vehicle contact incidents.

“The QRC is therefore developing a set of principles for underground and open cut mine vehicle operation, as well as promoting leading initiatives in the industry on vehicle operational management.”

Roche said that with $A32 million in funding secured through an industry levy in 2009-10, the Queensland Mines Inspectorate was better placed than ever to play a proactive role in the achievement of better safety and health outcomes.