2011 is the 25th anniversary of coordinated emergency response in the Tasmanian Mining Industry. For the past 25 years the Tasmanian Mines Rescue Steering Committee performed the coordinating function, but it operated more as a “club” on behalf of participating mines, and with a degree of informality.
This resulted in good “grass roots” cooperation, a level of informal mutual aid, and an annual competition that was effective with minimal funding.
In 2010, the board of the Minerals Council agreed to formalize the Committee as a peak body under the TMC; and at the 2010 AGM I was given the opportunity to chair the new committee for 2011.
First Steps:
As a first step the Tasmanian Mines Rescue Steering Committee was renamed as the Tasmanian Minerals Emergency Response Committee (ERC). This transitioned the group from a “club” approach and it became an industry representative body reporting to TMC Board. The committee is quite large, with a senior representative from each mine or mineral processing facility that has an emergency response capability – typically the ER coordinator, OH&S Manager or Rescue Team Captain.
While under the auspices of the TMC, the ERC retains a degree of autonomy to ensure results are achieved.
The ERC created and finalised new logo with the kind support of Wayne Bould and Grange Resources.
Protocols:
Early in the year the ERC established protocols for cooperation with the TMC which included the formalisation of meeting processes and the election of role bearers and alternates.
The ERC also established sub-committees for things like health assessment, rescue ID cards and to organise the annual competition.
Down to Business:
Early in the year, WST conducted a review of ER capability of sites across the state at a given time of day and night, and concluded that mutual aid would often be required to ensure that all sites could field a response team at all times.
The ERC re-issued and refreshed the Mutual Aid Agreement, which has remained an in-principle agreement whereby mines and mineral processing operations agree to assist one another if asked, to the extent that they are able, in the event of an emergency.
Mutual aid is a fundamental building block of effective emergency response in a small state – what it means in practice is that the team responding to an emergency may be made up of people from different sites.
Therefore the ERC considered standardisation and collaboration to be the key areas in which it can add value.
Standardisation:
- The committee has implemented a Tasmanian ER ID card to streamline inductions and permitting in the case of a mutual aid response. Every ER team member in the state will have the card which will give them access to all sites in emergencies.
- The committee has introduced, and is close to finalising, a state-wide change to “555” as the universal emergency telephone number on all mineral sites (an Australian first).
- It is working with Tas Fire Service to standardise fire couplings state-wide and ensure that all sites have adapters to fit old installations.
Collaboration:
- The ERC has facilitated collaboration on health assessments for ER team members, refuge chambers, breathing apparatus and medication.
- The Committee is the conduit to arrange integrated training for ER team members from different sites; and
- The committee also this year held the first ER captains and responsible officers day, assisted by Workplace Standards Tasmania. This was held mid-year at Nyrstar in Hobart, and was a forum for discussion of the legal ramifications and requirements of emergency response. It is set to be an annual event.
Tasmanian Minerals Emergency Response Competition
By far the biggest undertaking for the committee has been the organising of the inaugural Tasmanian Minerals Emergency Response Competition.
In March, following a recommendation from the Committee the TMC Board endorsed a 2 day competition, that was expanded to incorporate non-mining sites.
In addition the secretariat resolved to seek support from sponsors, incorporate VIP events and ensure wide media coverage.
The competition is now the third major event on the TMC annual calendar.
Organising the Competition:
With the fine cooperation of Vedanta Copper Mines of Tasmania the Competition was held in Queenstown on the 11th and 12th of November.
It was greatly enhanced by the gaining of sponsorship with the major sponsors being TasRail, Veolia, Bass Metals and Strata Australia, along with a host of smaller contributions.
The event was publicly advertised via an 8 page Supplement in The Advocate on 9th November and details were also broadcast on radio via 7AD, 7BU and 7XS. Additional Media Coverage occurred through commentary from CEO Terry Long and State and Local politicians invited to the VIP events.
There were two unique features of this competition that I am told will be copied in Victoria next year:
Firstly, the inclusion of a combined team comprised of people from different sites. This team met about 30 minutes before their first event and were provided with a range of equipment borrowed from other teams. It was designed to stress test the mutual aid concept in practice and I can tell you that the results were outstanding. That team won the fire fighting and the individual best medic awards, and they finished well placed in most of the other events.
Second, this year’s competition included both surface and underground search and rescue events with teams competing in either of these to suit their skills and equipment. The difficulty of the events were adjusted to ensure that the final results were comparable: the underground teams walked a shorter distance under full closed circuit breathing apparatus while the surface event was longer but without the breathing apparatus. I can tell you that this worked very well with the top surface team beating the top underground team by 0.9%.
Competition Outcomes:
This year 10 Teams competed, covering underground mining, open pit mining, and mineral processing; and covering both Tasmania and Victoria.
The competitors were:-
– Beaconsfield
– Copper Mines Tasmania
– Cornwall Coal
– Fosterville, Victoria
– Grange Resources
– Henty
– Renison
– MMG Rosebery
– Rio Tinto Alcan Bell Bay
– A Composite Team made up of spare members from the above
The Winner Overall was MMG with Grange Resources second and Cornwall Coal third.
The event obtained extensive media coverage both in the hard media and on radio and was a great success for the Tasmanian Minerals Industry.
Summary:
In summary, the establishment of the ERC by the TMC Board has proven to be a highly successful initiative. The Committee has implemented a number of initiatives during the year which have enhanced the integrated capability of emergency response on a state wide basis.
In closing, I wish to thank all my fellow committee members for their contributions and in particular applaud Scot Clyde and his management team at CMT for the superbly run competition at Mt Lyell.
John Lamb, Chair
