Included in the overhaul will be the hiring of skilled staff members across a range of OHS fields and the engagement of new skills and restructuring staff into three key areas of technical, management and support, and enforcement and investigation.

The shift will include introducing a standard accident investigation process, increasing the inspectorate's ability to take corrective action to deal with organisational, occupational hygiene and ergonomic risks as well as physical risks and reviewing staff accreditation and competency guidelines.

Mines are likely to see a team of inspectors, rather than individuals, visit their operations on inspections and checklists used during reviews will be overhauled towards a more performance based, rather than end point, approach.

More mining staff will also be involved in inspections, with site safety and health representatives and OHS staff to be interviewed as part of standard procedure.

One of the most important changes to be made will be a shift from health data collection and storage from site inspections to the establishment of a health surveillance database that will become a data source for research into the prevalence of occupational disease caused by mining activities.

Changes to the inspectorate will be introduced steadily, with some already in effect.