QLD Coal Mining Legislation: Guide for Open-Cut Examiners

For open-cut examiners working in Queensland's surface coal mines, understanding QLD coal mining legislation is not a one-time exercise completed at qualification stage. The regulatory framework is detailed, role-specific, and carries real consequences for site safety and legal compliance. The Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 sets the overarching safety and health obligations, and the Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 (the Regulation) sets out how those obligations apply at a coal mine, including the requirements for open-cut examiners at surface mines, the safety and health management system (SHMS) and emergency management. This guide translates the key provisions into plain English, covering presence requirements, inspection duties, SHMS involvement, emergency management obligations, and the continuing professional development scheme that keeps your knowledge current.

01 – YOUR STATUTORY FRAMEWORK

What QLD Coal Mining Legislation Means for Open-Cut Examiners

The Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 is the primary legislative instrument governing surface coal mining operations in Queensland. It sits beneath the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and translates broad legislative principles into specific, enforceable obligations for statutory role holders — including open-cut examiners.

Why Ongoing Familiarity Matters

For open-cut examiners, the Regulation is not background reading. It defines the boundaries of your statutory role, your day-to-day duties, and your involvement in site systems. Many of the site senior executive's obligations also depend on examiners doing their part — acting on hazard notifications, taking part in incident investigations, and helping to develop and test emergency procedures. A working knowledge of these provisions is essential not just when you first qualify, but throughout your career.

What the Regulation Covers for This Role

The sections most directly relevant to open-cut examiners include:

• Presence and access (s 104): the site senior executive must ensure an open-cut examiner is present at the mine and contactable by people working in or around the surface excavation while mining activities are carried out
• Responsibilities and duties (s 105): your main responsibility is the safety and health of persons in or around the surface excavation during mining activities
• Inspecting surface excavations (s 106): inspecting the excavation and the nearby parts of the mine to decide whether the level of risk is acceptable, before activities start and periodically as the SHMS requires, after reading the latest open-cut examiner's report in the mine record
• Reducing an unacceptable level of risk (s 107): acting when an inspection finds an unacceptable level of risk
• SHMS involvement (s 108): helping develop, review and audit the part of the SHMS covering mining activities in and around the excavation
• Hazard notification (s 8(2)(g)): receiving notification of known hazards in and around the excavation
• Incident investigation (s 15(2)(a)): being involved in investigating accidents and incidents in or around the excavation
• Emergency management (s 35(2)(f)): helping develop and test emergency procedures for activities in and around the excavation, and auditing the documentation

Understanding how these provisions interact — and how they translate into daily practice — is the foundation of effective statutory performance in this role.

02 – PRESENCE & COVERAGE RULES

Presence, Availability and the Site Senior Executive's Obligations

Section 104 of the Regulation places a clear obligation on the site senior executive for a surface mine. Whenever mining activities are carried out in or around the surface excavation, the site senior executive must ensure that at least one open-cut examiner is present at the mine and contactable by any person working in or around the excavation.

What This Means in Practice

Section 104 has direct implications for how surface mines plan rosters and manage shift coverage. Presence at the mine is not enough on its own — the open-cut examiner must also be contactable by anyone working in or around the excavation. If no open-cut examiner is present while mining activities are carried out, the site senior executive is not meeting section 104.

Site Planning Considerations

For site senior executives and mine managers, section 104 means:

• Roster planning must account for appointed open-cut examiner presence across all active mining periods
• Leave, illness or absence of an appointed open-cut examiner requires a compliant coverage arrangement to be in place
• The contactability requirement extends to all persons working in or around the excavation, not just supervisors

The Examiner's Primary Responsibility

Section 105 reinforces this by establishing that the main responsibility of an open-cut examiner for the mine is the safety and health of persons in or around the surface excavation during mining activities in or around the surface excavation. Open-cut examiners may hold other duties at the mine, including duties given to the examiner under the mine's safety and health management system.

03 – INSPECTION DUTIES

Core Duties: Inspections and Hazard Notification

Section 106 of the Regulation sets out the inspection obligations that support the open-cut examiner's main responsibility under section 105: the safety and health of persons in or around the surface excavation during mining activities. These are not discretionary. They are a defined statutory duty tied to the start of mining activities and their ongoing conduct.

Inspection Timing

An open-cut examiner must inspect the surface mine excavation and the part of the mine near it where activities, including mining activities, are to be or are being carried out:

1. Before those activities start in or around the excavation
2. Periodically after that, as required under the mine's SHMS

The SHMS link: a surface mine must have a standard operating procedure for carrying out safety inspections of workplaces, including open-cut examiner inspections under section 106 (s 141). Standard operating procedures form part of the mine's SHMS (s 10(1)(e)), so the SHMS is where the detail of the periodic inspections sits.

The purpose of each inspection is to decide whether the level of risk is acceptable. Before inspecting, the examiner must read the latest open-cut examiner's report in the mine record and acknowledge in writing, in the mine record, that they have read it.

Hazard Notification Under the SHMS

The Regulation also establishes a hazard notification pathway specific to surface mines. The mine's SHMS must provide for notifying the open-cut examiner responsible for the excavation of known hazards in and around the surface mine excavation, including areas where mining activities are taking place.

How Inspections and Hazard Notification Work Together

The SHMS notification requirement complements the open-cut examiner's own inspection duties under section 106. In practice, the two create a structured flow of information that supports informed decisions about risk. Open-cut examiners need to understand both sides of this arrangement — their own inspection duties and the hazard notification the SHMS must provide for — to manage risk effectively within the SHMS framework.

Engage actively in the parts of the SHMS that are within your competencyWhere a matter is outside your competency, say so, and make sure it is referred to someone with the right competency

04 – SHMS INVOLVEMENT

Role in the Safety and Health Management System

Section 108 of the Regulation addresses the open-cut examiner's involvement in the mine's Safety and Health Management System. It establishes that the site senior executive must ensure at least one open-cut examiner is involved in developing, reviewing and auditing the part of the SHMS that relates to mining activities in and around the mine excavation.

The Competency Boundary

Section 108(2) includes an important qualification: the open-cut examiner is not required to be involved in a matter that is not within their competency. This is a meaningful boundary, because SHMS documents can be technically complex and cover many disciplines.

Day-to-Day SHMS Responsibilities

The site senior executive must ensure an open-cut examiner is involved (s 108(1)). In practice, this means open-cut examiners should expect to be involved in:

• Developing the parts of the SHMS that govern mining activities in and around the excavation
• Reviewing those parts of the SHMS
• Auditing those parts of the SHMS

This involvement applies to matters within the open-cut examiner's competency (s 108(2)).

Why Legislative Awareness Supports This Role

Understanding the legislative basis for SHMS involvement helps open-cut examiners engage more effectively in these processes. Knowing what the Regulation requires — and where the competency boundary sits — allows open-cut examiners to participate with confidence and to identify when matters fall outside their statutory scope.

1. Develop & test emergency proceduresContribute to designing emergency management procedures relevant to the surface excavation environment and participate in exercises that test those procedures.
2. Audit the documentationAudit the documentation for those procedures. The SHMS must provide for this involvement.
3. Stay current as the site evolvesKeep familiar with the mine's emergency management framework as the site layout, equipment or operational scope changes, and take part in developing and testing updated procedures.

The open-cut examiner's involvement in emergency management covers developing and testing procedures and auditing the documentation, so it isn't a one-off sign-off.

05 – EMERGENCY OBLIGATIONS

Emergency Management: The Open-Cut Examiner's Involvement

Emergency management is another area where Queensland coal mining legislation assigns a specific role to the open-cut examiner. At surface mines, the Regulation requires the mine's SHMS to provide for the open-cut examiner's involvement in emergency management (s 35(2)(f)).

What the Regulation Requires

The SHMS must provide for involving an open-cut examiner in:

• Developing and testing the emergency management procedures for activities, including mining activities, in and around the surface excavation
• Auditing the documentation for those procedures

Practical Implications

This is not a passive role. Open-cut examiners are required to be involved in developing and testing emergency management procedures for the excavation and in auditing the documentation for those procedures (s 35(2)(f)). In practice, that includes contributing to the procedures, taking part in the exercises that test them (s 35(2)(d)), and auditing the supporting documentation.

Staying Prepared

For open-cut examiners, this means maintaining familiarity with the mine's emergency management framework as it applies to surface excavation activities. Changes to site layout, equipment, or operational scope can affect emergency procedures, and the examiner's involvement in reviewing and testing those procedures is part of how the site manages that risk on an ongoing basis.

06 – CPD & THE PCS

Open-Cut Examiner CPD in Queensland: The Practising Certificate Scheme (PCS)

Queensland's Practising Certificate Scheme (PCS) was established to enhance mine worker safety by ensuring statutory officials, including open-cut examiners, maintain current skills and knowledge. Holders of certificates of competency and notices must complete continuing professional development (CPD) to keep their practising certificate, and the scheme has been mandatory since 10 June 2025 (Board of Examiners Practising Certificate Scheme guide). Each CPD activity must fall within one of three subject areas:

• Mining methods
• Legislation, emergency management and leadership
• Health and safety/risk management

A CPD Refresher Option: Legislation Training for Open-Cut Examiners

Mine Training Solutions offers QLD Coal Mining Legislation Awareness: Open Cut Examiners, a refresher course designed specifically for open-cut examiners. It is delivered online and runs for one day. On completion, you receive a certificate of completion that you can use as evidence of CPD hours under the Practising Certificate Scheme.

The course covers topics that match the provisions in this guide, including the appointment of open-cut examiners, their responsibilities and duties, their role in developing and reviewing the SHMS, reducing an unacceptable level of risk, emergencies, and investigating accidents and incidents.

CPD Course Options: Nationally Recognised (VET) Courses

Mine Training Solutions (RTO 46163) offers refresher training in the core units of RII40226 Certificate IV Surface Coal Mining (Open Cut Examiner), as well as additional nationally recognised units that can count toward your CPD hours under the Practising Certificate Scheme. Our refresher courses have been specifically designed for experienced Open-Cut Examiners and the Practising Certificate Scheme, drawing on your existing knowledge and workplace experience rather than repeating the full training. To enrol in a refresher, you must hold an Open-Cut Examiner Certificate of Competency and have previously completed the unit you are refreshing. For example, for our RIIMPO403D refresher you’ll need your earlier Statement of Attainment, or a Certificate IV transcript or USI transcript showing the unit. Courses delivered by registered training organisations are an accepted type of formal learning under the scheme, so completing these units is one way to build the hours you need.

Here are some of the additional units available for CPD:

• RIIMEX407E Apply and monitor the ground control management plan
• RIIENV302E Apply environmentally sustainable work practices
• RIIRIS401E Apply site risk management system
• RIIERR503D Implement emergency preparedness and response systems

Each CPD activity is lodged under one of the scheme's three subject areas, and it is the holder's responsibility to make sure the activity meets the Board's criteria. To discuss which units suit your CPD plan, view our coal mining courses or contact Mine Training Solutions.

07 – YOUR NEXT STEP

Next Steps: Enrol or Enquire

If you are an open-cut examiner looking to refresh your legislative knowledge and earn CPD hours under Queensland's Practising Certificate Scheme, the QLD Coal Mining Legislation Awareness: Open-Cut Examiners course at minetrainingsolutions.com.au is the practical next step. The course covers the legislative framework, SHMS obligations, risk management, emergency management, and the specific duties of the open-cut examiner role — all in a format designed for working mining industry professionals.

Earlier in Your Pathway?

For those who are earlier in their career journey toward becoming an open-cut examiner, the RII40226 Certificate IV in Surface Coal Mining (Open Cut Examiner) is the nationally accredited qualification that forms the first step in the process. This 12–15 month, workplace-based program is designed for experienced coal mine workers with at least three years of operational experience and current mine site access.

Get in Touch

To enrol, discuss your CPD requirements, or ask about any of our courses, contact Mine Training Solutions directly:

• Phone: 0438 009 285
• Website: http://www.minetrainingsolutions.com.au

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