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How Does Safety Influence Mining Industry

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Questions
How does Safety influence mining industry in general? What are the issues associated with Safety versus Production in mining?
1) Introduction
This essay will examine Safety within the mining industry with a focus on Western Australia. It will examine the growth of the industry and look at how safety has developed and is applied today. This essay will examine three (3) key areas;
1) Safety from a workers point of view,
2) Safety from a management point of view and
3) Safety from my point of view as a safety advisor.
According to Worksafe Australia the Mining Industry today is ranked as the sixth (6th) most dangerous industry leading to work place fatalities.
Since the beginning of mining in Australia in the early 1840s, workers have been drawn to the allure of striking it rich or making big money. This attraction has not come without the hazards and risks that are inherent to the mining industry. For over 180 years the mining industry still has regular injuries and fatalities.
The Australian mining sector is a unique industry as a large number of its workforce is employed as fly in fly out (fifo) workers. Most mining companies’ employ workers on a 12 hour shift basis and accommodation is in company owned or operated camps. The mines that operate this model of employment and accommodation can be defined as ‘total institutions’, that is “a place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a

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