Mine Rescue Skills Tested

Mine rescue teams from across Australia converged on Bendigo last weekend to compete in the WorkSafe-sponsored Annual Victorian Underground Mine Rescue Competition.

The Northgate Stawell Gold Mine Emergency Rescue Team (Stawell, VIC) was declared the overall winner of the competition, which is in its 18th year.

“Mining is intrinsically dangerous work – workers are underground, they’re isolated, and often they’re working with heavy machinery,” WorkSafe’s Hazard Management Division Acting Director Rod Gunn said.

“Although health and safety incidents in the industry are rare, everyone knows that if something goes wrong, it can go very wrong. That’s why strong health and safety and emergency response processes are critical.

“The Mine Rescue Competition gives volunteer rescue teams a chance to exercise emergency plans in scenarios as close to real life as possible – they’re under pressure and working against the clock,” Mr Gunn said.

Significant mine incidents in Victoria in recent years include the 2008 death of a teenager who was run over by a truck at Ballarat’s gold mine in Mount Clear, and eleven workers affected by toxic carbon monoxide fumes at the Fosterville Gold Mine after an underground blast in 2007.

In 2006, a worker was crushed by a steel beam while carrying out maintenance work at the Yallourn open cut mine. An outcome to WorkSafe’s prosecution of Silcar Pty Ltd is expected later this week.

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