Health Excellence
Peabody, Metropolitan Mine
Spring Panther
Spring Panther is a low-cost, high-return initiative combining a spring balancer with a lightweight monorail system to eliminate substantial manual handling risks from using hand bolters.
Previously, the workforce at Metropolitan manually operated heavy hand bolters to carry out highly repetitive daily tasks. Manual operation of hand bolters over time leads to increased muscle tension and related ailments, decreasing the quality of life of Peabody’s workforce and their ongoing productivity.
Spring Panther has modernised practices, while protecting workers from acute and chronic injuries. Peabody has seen a positive boost to production, reduced long-term injuries, and lost labour.
The Spring Panther is easily portable, and has been shown to be transferable between sites, making it easy for any mine or equivalent industry to use.
Yancoal
Mental Health Programme
Yancoal, in partnership with Mental Health Movement, began a Mental Health Program in 2022 as a four-stage four-year structured and resourced dedicated programme to address psychosocial risks to the workforce.
Yancoal took steps to promote positive mental health management and ‘help-seeking’ behaviours amongst the Yancoal workforce, changing perceptions of mental health and equipping people to better support their teams, co-workers, family and friends.
While the program has yet to be completed, Yancoal has demonstrated a number of positive outcomes from the program so far. Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate, significant incidents, days lost to workplace injuries have all decreased since the programme began.
Yancoal has demonstrated concerted efforts to reduce psychosocial stressors on their workforce deliver positive outcomes, and in turn shows the benefits other businesses could derive from implementing similar programs.
Safety Excellence
Centennial
Fatal Risk Program
Centennial Coal’s Fatal Risk Program was established to better prevent major accidents, fatalities and life-changing injuries at Centennial by building internal capability to effectively control fatal risks.
Centennial undertook a Fatal Risk Management (FRM) assessment, to give priority treatment to their identified Fatal Risks. This was followed by a 24 month process in which controls were developed and implemented across the business through custom software and dashboards to allow frontline staff to have greater faith in and understanding of the controls around fatal risks.
The program is a sophisticated safety advancement which has given all levels of Centennial Coal ownership of a safe workplace, and the ongoing management of fatal risks. The software has been developed to be able to function in an underground environment, and the decision making tools it provides can be adapted to other industries.
Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group
Leading an Empowered Culture of Safety
NCIG faced the challenge of effectively measuring safety performance due to the limitations of traditional lag indicators, especially given its low injury record. In response, NCIG developed the Safety Culture Score (SCS). The SCS integrates lead safety indicators across four key dimensions—Environment, Practices, People, and Leadership.
The introduction of SCS has yielded tangible benefits, notably a 10% increase in SCS over the FY21-23 period correlates with a reduction of 34% in total incidents and 50% in recorded injuries.
The SCS is integrated into monthly reporting, creating transparency and accountability. This reinforces NCIG's commitment to safety but also facilitates informed decision-making and strategic alignment.
The SCS framework offers a standardised approach that can be adopted to any organisation. By leveraging theory-backed metrics and industry best practices, NCIG has set a precedent for enhancing safety performance reporting globally.
Environmental Excellence
Peabody, Wilpinjong Mine
Mine Adit Restoration for Microbats
During an environmental assessment at the Wilpinjong Mine, a historical oil shale mine adit within the proposed extension area was discovered to be home to two threatened species of microbats.
Old timber beams supported the adit, however there was evidence of rock falls at the entrance and concerns that blasting for a future extension project within 150 metres could accelerate the adits likely eventual collapse.
Wilpinjong Environmental Department collaborated with a bat specialist to design a cost-effective, innovative adit support structure which protects the microbat colony - an effective solution for habitat preservation applicable to natural or manmade overhangs across the mining industry.
Community Excellence
Dreampath
Dreampath Recruitment
Dreampath Recruitment identified that a major barrier to indigenous people entering mining was a lack of appropriate pre-employment training. They consulted with community leaders, industry partners, and regulatory bodies to design a program to address these barriers.
The result is the Dreampath program. Dreampath is an immersive pre-employment experience, combining advanced simulator training with classroom theory, practical demonstrations, and life skills coaching, equipping candidates with over 80 hours of accredited training.
The program is already having an impact with 25 of 50 candidates securing a CERT III Surface Extraction Traineeship. Development of the project was supported significantly by MACH Energy and its Aboriginal Community Development Fund.
Evolution Mining, Northparkes Operations
Frontline Services Ball
The Frontline Services Ball was established in 2022. It was initiated by Northparkes Operation and developed by a working party of local stakeholders.
The ball was developed to express gratitude to those in the frontline services who supported the community during COVID-19 and to raise much-needed funds for those services.
Two balls have been held, and a total of $170,000 has been raised for local charities in the Central West. Northparkes is the major sponsor and provides significant in-kind support to the event's administration. The ball has funded mental health programs, much-needed emergency equipment, including defibrillators, and an upgrade to local PCYC facilities.
Idemitsu, Boggabri Coal Mine
Boggabri Community Early Learning Facility (ELF)
Boggabri is a township of 900 people. The mine engaged with stakeholders to understand the needs of the community including the lack of childcare facilities which made it difficult to attract and retain young families.
In consultation with the community and stakeholders and after a feasibility study it was decided to develop the Boggabri early Learning Facility, Boggabri provided the land, funded and developed the centre and underwrote the business case for the centre by agreeing to fund a minimum number of placements.
The Centre has been successfully operating since 2021 and supporting the region's mining and non mining families.
Honourable Mention
Health Excellence
Illawarra Metallurgical Coal and South Coast Health Hub
Early Intervention Program (EIP)
Illawarra Metallurgical Coal’s (IMC) early intervention program (EIP) is pioneering injury management and employee wellness.
The EIP was developed alongside South Coast Health Hub (SCHH) to focus on proactive management through early communication and intervention, and to provide targeted support from local healthcare providers and experts. It offers onsite physiotherapy, a wellness program, and mental health support, promoting a culture of open communication to address both work and non-work-related conditions. This multi-faceted approach has delivered a comprehensive support framework for the IMC workforce.
Over just 12 months, the EIP reduced the lost time injury frequency by 37%, and the Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate to 40% below the industry median. The program has delivered effective injury management through a collaborative, holistic, and results-driven approach which can be transferred to other workplaces.