2026 Mining Safety, Critical Risk & Psychosocial Risk Summit - QLD 
Strengthening Regulatory Compliance, Critical Risk Assurance & Operational Accountability across Queensland's Mining Industry

Arrival 

Welcome, opening 

The $7 million industrial manslaughter conviction involving Mastermyne Crinum Operations has placed renewed attention on corporate criminal liability, executive accountability and the legal consequences of serious safety failures within Queensland's mining industry.

This presentation will examine Queensland's industrial manslaughter laws, the implications of this significant prosecution and the circumstances in which failures in safety governance, risk management and operational oversight may result in criminal liability.

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Key discussion points:

- The $7 Million Conviction: Key legal findings, case developments and implications for Queensland mine operators.
- Criminal Negligence & Corporate Liability: When serious safety failures may cross the threshold from regulatory non-compliance to criminal prosecution.
- Executive & Officer Accountability: Legal responsibilities and potential exposure of company directors, senior executives and mine management.
- Critical Risk & Safety System Failures: How inadequate controls, supervision and governance may contribute to criminal liability.
- Practical Legal Lessons for Mine Operators: Strengthening due diligence, accountability and evidence of effective safety management.

Session Outcome: Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of industrial manslaughter liability in Queensland mining, the legal risks arising from serious safety failures and the importance of demonstrable safety governance and executive oversight.

Underground mining presents significant geotechnical and operational safety challenges, where changing ground conditions, geological uncertainty, excavation design and ineffective ground support systems can contribute to serious or catastrophic incidents.

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As Queensland's underground mining operations continue to evolve, effective ground control requires more than engineering design. It demands ongoing geotechnical assessment, monitoring, verification of critical controls and timely operational decision-making.

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This presentation is proposed to examine the management of high-consequence geotechnical risks in underground coal and metalliferous mining environments, with particular attention to identifying deteriorating ground conditions, maintaining effective ground support systems and strengthening operational risk controls.

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The session would also consider how emerging geotechnical monitoring technologies and data-driven assessment can improve early hazard identification, while recognising the importance of engineering judgement, workforce competency and effective communication between technical and operational teams.

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Key Discussion Areas

• High-consequence geotechnical hazards: Ground instability, roof and strata failure, rockfalls and ground support failures in underground operations.

• Ground control and critical risk management: Identifying principal geotechnical hazards, implementing effective controls and verifying their ongoing effectiveness.

• Monitoring and early warning systems: Practical applications and limitations of geotechnical instrumentation, monitoring technologies and data interpretation.

• Operational decision-making and risk escalation: Recognising changing ground conditions, responding to deteriorating controls and preventing high-potential incidents.

• Queensland operational and regulatory considerations: Strengthening geotechnical risk management, engineering assurance and accountability in underground mining.

Audience engagement, Panel Session

Break 

Explosives and blasting operations present significant high-consequence safety risks across Queensland's mining sector, where undetected misfires, inadequate blast clearance procedures, exclusion zone failures and ineffective contractor oversight can result in serious or catastrophic incidents.

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Recent Queensland explosives safety alerts and incident investigations have reinforced the importance of effective misfire identification, residual explosives management, reliable communication and the verification of critical safety controls throughout the blasting process.

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This presentation will examine key lessons from Queensland blasting incidents and emerging safety concerns, with particular attention to how failures in blast planning, post-blast inspections, communication and contractor management can contribute to unplanned detonations and high-potential events.

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The session will also consider the responsibilities of mine operators, shotfirers and blasting contractors under Queensland's explosives and resources safety regulatory frameworks, including the importance of clear accountability, operational supervision and critical control assurance.

Drawing on practical industry experience and regulatory learnings, the presentation will highlight opportunities to strengthen blasting safety systems, prevent repeat incidents and improve the management of high-consequence explosives risks.

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Key Discussion Areas

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• Queensland blasting incidents and safety alerts: Lessons from misfires, unplanned detonations and failures in explosives risk controls.

• Misfire identification and management: Post-blast inspections, residual explosives, reporting and preventing inadvertent initiation.

• Exclusion zones and blast clearance: Personnel accountability, communication, access restrictions and verification of safe re-entry.

• Contractor management and accountability: Responsibilities of mine operators, shotfirers and blasting contractors, including supervision, competency and coordination.

• Critical control verification: Strengthening blasting procedures, operational assurance and safeguards against high-consequence incidents.

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Presentation Focus: Practical incident learnings, critical control effectiveness and contractor accountability in Queensland surface and underground mining operations.

Mine shafts and winding systems remain among the most critical infrastructure risks in underground mining operations.

These systems present significant hazards including mechanical failure, structural instability, and potential entrapment scenarios.

This session examines regulatory requirements for shaft management, including principal mining hazard management plans, system integrity verification, and control measures designed to prevent catastrophic conveyance failure.

It also explores how operators can strengthen inspection regimes and maintenance assurance systems to reduce high-consequence risk exposure.

Audience engagement, panel Q & A  

Break 

Australia’s resources sector faces increasing workforce pressures arising from technological and operational change, compounded by high levels of psychological distress among FIFO workers. Research indicates approximately one in three workers exceed clinical distress thresholds, highlighting the importance of effective workplace mental health responses and evolving WHS psychosocial risk obligations.

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While awareness of psychosocial risks has increased, translating this awareness into practical frontline capability remains a challenge. Generic mental health training may not adequately reflect the operational realities of mining, particularly in high-risk, remote and safety-critical environments.

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This presentation examines the development and application of industry-specific Mental Health Response Training (MHRT), built around three practical principles: Recognise, Respond and Refer.

The approach focuses on identifying psychological distress, responding appropriately and facilitating early intervention or crisis support.

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Drawing on research collaboration with Monash University and practical implementation within mining operations, the session will explore how industry-informed training can strengthen workforce confidence, peer support and organisational readiness.

With approximately 300 workers participating since November 2025, early evaluation findings indicate improvements in mental health literacy, practical response skills and participant confidence.

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The presentation will consider the broader implications for psychosocial risk management, workforce resilience and the integration of mental health response capability into existing mining safety systems.

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Commercial and Operational Relevance

Psychosocial wellbeing has important implications for workforce safety, productivity, absenteeism and retention.

Developing internal capability to recognise and respond to psychological distress can strengthen early intervention, improve workplace communication and support a more resilient workforce.

The presentation explores how practical, industry-specific approaches can complement existing WHS psychosocial risk management strategies and contribute to sustainable improvements in organisational safety and performance.

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Industry Collaboration and Practical Application

The MHRT framework was developed through collaboration between Monash University and mining industry participants, including Byrnecut and its subsidiaries.

Its development incorporated frontline worker feedback, supervisor input and operational scenarios relevant to underground, surface and office-based mining environments.

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This collaborative approach provides a case study in translating psychological research into practical workforce training that can be adapted across different mining operations and jurisdictions.

As mining operations adopt greater levels of automation, artificial intelligence and remote decision support, the nature of operational risk is changing. Increasingly, workers are required to remain accountable for safe and productive outcomes while some of the information, judgement and decision-making that previously sat within their roles is transferred to automated or intelligent systems.

In many cases, work design has not evolved at the same pace as the technology. Supervisors, control-room operators, technical specialists and frontline workers may retain responsibility for operational outcomes while having limited visibility of system reasoning, reduced opportunity to intervene, unclear escalation pathways, or insufficient time and information to recognise when intervention is required.

This presentation examines the relationship between these changes in work and both psychosocial and critical operational risk. Drawing on practical experience across mining automation, autonomous haulage, remote operations and control-room environments, it explores how the design of human–technology systems can contribute to cognitive overload, alarm and information saturation, role ambiguity, reduced sense of purpose, automation complacency, fragmented accountability and situations where responsibility exceeds an individual’s practical control.

Particular attention will be given to the relationship between accountability, authority and control. If a person remains accountable for an operational or safety outcome, what information, competence, decision rights and opportunities for intervention must remain available to them? Conversely, what happens when technological systems progressively assume elements of sensing, analysis and decision-making without corresponding changes to roles, competency requirements, escalation processes and assurance systems?

The presentation draws on the principles of Human Authority-Centred Work Design (HACWD) as a way of examining these questions. Rather than treating automation solely as a technology implementation challenge, this approach considers how roles, tasks, decision authority, competencies and operational controls need to be redesigned as the capabilities of intelligent systems increase.
Operational examples will illustrate how organisations can examine critical decision points, identify gaps between accountability and authority, and consider whether personnel are realistically able to recognise, challenge and respond to emerging risk. The presentation will also explore the importance of treating human intervention not simply as an assumed safeguard, but as a capability that must be deliberately designed, maintained and tested.

This raises several questions for mining organisations introducing or expanding intelligent systems:
• In considering work with intelligent systems, do the current roles and work design still make sense?
• Has capability requirement and skill currency kept pace with changes in technology adoption?
• When a system makes or recommends an operational decision, who remains accountable for the outcome?
• Does that person have sufficient information, competence, time and authority to intervene?
• Where human intervention forms part of a critical control, how is that intervention tested and verified?
• What psychosocial hazards emerge when responsibility is retained but control is reduced?
• How should automation-related changes in cognitive demand, role purpose and decision authority be incorporated into operational assurance and continuous improvement?

The presentation argues that the next stage of mining automation requires greater attention to the design of work around technology, not only the performance of the technology itself. Maintaining meaningful human authority, clear accountability and effective intervention pathways will be important both for psychosocial safety and for the integrity of high-consequence operational controls.

Queensland's FIFO, DIDO and remote mining workforces face complex challenges associated with extended rosters, long working hours, travel demands, workforce shortages, isolation and the pressures of maintaining production in high-risk operating environments.

These conditions can contribute to cumulative fatigue, psychological distress, disrupted sleep, burnout and reduced workforce engagement, with potential consequences for operational safety, decision-making, workforce retention and organisational performance.

With fatigue management and psychosocial hazards receiving increased regulatory attention in Queensland, mining companies are being challenged to move beyond traditional wellbeing initiatives and consider how work design, roster arrangements, supervision and organisational practices influence workforce health and safety.

Queensland's ongoing focus on fatigue risk management, together with RSHQ's 2026 psychosocial hazard findings, reinforces the importance of practical, evidence-informed approaches to managing workforce pressures across coal mines, metalliferous mines and remote operations.

This session will examine the particular challenges facing FIFO, DIDO and remote mining personnel, including the effects of extended rosters, shift work, commuting, accommodation arrangements, separation from family and limited access to support services.

The discussion will explore how mining organisations can strengthen fatigue management, improve early identification of psychological distress, support workers and supervisors, and develop workplace arrangements that promote both safety and sustainable operational performance.
Particular attention will be given to practical initiatives that improve workforce wellbeing and retention while maintaining the demands of complex mining operations.

Key discussion areas
- FIFO, DIDO and remote workforce challenges: Extended rosters, commuting, isolation, accommodation conditions and separation from family.
- Fatigue and roster design: Cumulative fatigue, night shifts, sleep disruption, recovery periods and fitness for work.
- Queensland's fatigue management priorities: Existing regulatory obligations and the coal mining industry's work to improve fatigue management.
- Mental health and psychological wellbeing: Recognising distress, burnout, disengagement and the effects of prolonged operational pressures.
- Leadership and supervisor capability: Supporting early intervention, appropriate conversations, workforce trust and access to assistance.
- Retention and workforce sustainability: Improving engagement, work-life balance, organisational culture and workforce stability.
- Practical wellbeing strategies: Evidence-informed initiatives that support psychological health, fatigue prevention and safe operational performance.

Plenary Panel, Q & A  

Morning Tea