Recent Queensland mining legislation requires operators to define, implement and verify critical controls for principal hazards, and to integrate these controls into Safety and Health Management Systems and Principal Hazard Management Plans. While many sites have made significant progress in identifying critical controls, challenges remain in ensuring those controls are consistently understood, observable and actionable in day-to-day operations.

This presentation explores the gap between “critical controls as documented” and “critical controls as experienced by supervisors and workers exposed to the hazard.” Using examples from common mining principal hazards, including mobile plant interactions, isolation of energy and ground control, it examines why controls degrade in practice. Typical failure modes include unclear performance requirements, over-reliance on administrative controls, verification activities that confirm paperwork rather than effectiveness, and a lack of clear triggers for action when control performance falls below standard.

The session introduces a practical framework, the “Five Tests of a Real Critical Control”: the Reality Test, Performance Test, Verification Test, Trigger Test and Response Test. These tests challenge whether a control is defined against real site-specific scenarios, whether performance is measurable and observable, whether effectiveness can be verified in real time, whether clear thresholds exist for degradation, and whether immediate and practical responses are defined when controls fail.

The presentation aligns with current Queensland guidance on integrating critical controls into Principal Hazard Management Plans and focuses on practical implementation at the frontline. It will outline how supervisors and site leaders can move from assurance activity to real-time confidence in control effectiveness, and how organisations can identify weak signals before escalation to a serious event.

Delegates will leave with a simple test: if the people closest to the hazard cannot explain the control, recognise when it is degraded, and know what to do when it fails, then the organisation does not yet have control — it has documentation.

Frontline supervisors are critical to the effective implementation and monitoring of Safety and Health Management Systems across Queensland’s coal mining, mineral mining, and quarrying operations. Their statutory duties under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 require a level of competence that integrates technical knowledge, applied risk management capability, and the leadership needed to influence safe behaviours. Yet, recent industry reviews and stakeholder feedback highlight significant variability in how supervisory competence is defined, developed, and demonstrated across the sector.
This presentation shares insights from the 2026 Supervisor Competency Requirements Project, commissioned by the Queensland Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health, endorsed by the Coal Mining Safety and Health Advisory Committee (CMSHAC) and the Mining (Metals and Quarries) Safety and Health Advisory Committee (MSHAC), and delivered by the University of Queensland’s Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC). The project examines the real‑world safety and health tasks performed by supervisors across underground coal, surface coal, underground minerals, surface minerals, and quarrying operations. Drawing on qualitative interviews, job role analyses, and detailed mapping of statutory obligations, the findings provide the foundation for a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis. This analysis identifies the knowledge and skills supervisors require to competently manage risk including physical and psychosocial hazards and execute critical control management, lead effective safety communication, and ensure compliance with both legislative and site‑specific requirements.
The presentation will highlight competency gaps identified to date, particularly those not addressed by existing national units of competency. It will also explore how the endorsement of CMSHAC and MSHAC, combined with ongoing consultation with AUSMASA’s technical committee and the Future Skills Organisation, is shaping a more contemporary, evidence‑based training landscape to support supervisory capability across Queensland’s mining and quarrying industries.

In high-risk industries, the difference between a safe decision and a risky one often comes down to a moment of attention, perception, or judgement. While organisations invest heavily in procedures, training, and communication, unsafe choices still occur. The reason lies in the way the human brain works.

This session explores the neuroscience behind human decision making and the cognitive limitations that can unintentionally place people in danger.

Over the last 60,000 years our brains have evolved to conserve energy by relying on subconscious patterns. In familiar settings, the brain quickly predicts what will happen next based on past experience, often operating on “autopilot”. In fact, 95% of our daily activities are driven by subconscious processes rather than deliberate thought.

While useful when we were hunters and gatherers living off the land, in complex and dynamic work environments, these natural processes can create blind spots. People may overlook changes, miss emerging risks, or rely on habits that once worked but are no longer safe.

Rather than fighting human nature, this session shows how leaders can motivate teams and drive safety culture with the brain in mind.

We will explore practical approaches that help individuals overcome these cognitive limitations by directing attention, strengthening awareness of risk, and influencing the way people think about safety in the moment.

The session will also examine how the brain’s social systems influence motivation and behaviour, and the importance of aligning safety related reward and recognition with behavioural metrics to compliment standard KPIs.

Humans are highly responsive to social feedback and cues from leaders and peers. When recognition is used effectively and authentically, it activates powerful motivational systems in the brain that strengthen desired behaviours and encourage people to repeat them.

By combining neuroscience insights with practical leadership strategies, this session will demonstrate how organisations can move beyond simply instructing people to work safely and instead create environments where safer choices become the natural and motivated response.

Because when we understand the brain, we can drive safer attitudes, more positive behaviours, and better results.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in Australia, yet it is largely absent from formal safety and health management systems within the Queensland resources industry.

While significant progress has been made in managing critical risks such as fatigue, psychosocial hazards and manual handling, cardiovascular risk is not typically recognised or integrated as part of structured risk management processes.

Evidence indicates that mining workforces experience a higher prevalence of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors compared to the general population, including obesity, hypertension, smoking, hazardous alcohol use, poor nutrition, and chronic stress. These risks are further compounded by shift work, fatigue, and remote operational environments characteristic of the resources sector.

Despite these well-established risk factors, cardiovascular disease is often positioned as an individual health issue rather than a workplace risk, resulting in a gap within existing safety frameworks. This gap has both health and operational consequences, including reduced workforce capacity, impaired cognitive performance, increased absenteeism, and the potential for acute and costly on-site medical events.

This presentation reframes cardiovascular disease as a measurable and preventable risk category within existing safety and health management systems. It explores the intersection between cardiovascular health and recognised occupational risk factors, including fatigue, psychosocial stress, and fitness for work.

Drawing on clinical cardiology experience and workforce-based observations, the session outlines a practical, systems-aligned approach to integrating cardiovascular risk into existing frameworks. This includes risk identification, workforce education, and alignment with current safety practices.

By embedding cardiovascular disease prevention into established systems, organisations can strengthen workforce reliability, improve safety outcomes, reduce health-related costs and address an important and currently under-recognised category of risk within the Queensland resources industry.