The South Australian Government’s Mining and Quarrying Occupational Health and Safety Committee (MAQOHSC) will be hosting a work health and safety seminar in Port Pirie on Wednesday, 21 October.
Targeted towards high level quarrying and mining personnel such as owners and supervisors, as well as health safety representatives, contractors and service providers, the program will cover a range of topics, including work health and safety regulations, mental health, mining hazards and dust management. It will include presentations from MAQOHSC and SafeWork SA, along with support and service providers Mining Family Matters, Health Safety Environment Australia and NB&A Rehab.
MAQOHSC executive officer Leonie Caldarelli said the Port Pirie event was part of a “roadshow”-style series of seminars that toured regional areas. The initiative was introduced earlier this year, and seminars have already been held in Port Lincoln, Mount Gambier and the Riverland.
“The MAQOHSC Regional Work Health and Safety Seminars [are] a committee initiative to proactively communicate and engage with regional and remote stakeholders, promoting best workplace safety practices with the aim to prevent injury, disease and occupational-related dust diseases within the SA mining and quarrying sector,” Caldarelli explained.
“MAQOHSC promotes collective partnerships with peak industry bodies, government and unions at our seminars,” she added. “This enables regional and remote mine and quarry operations to easily access safety resources and key information through an encouraging interactive platform.”
Caldarelli said that in addition to the work health and safety seminars, MAQOHSC offered free safety resources to all SA mines and quarries, including technical workplace advice, best practice safety guides, workplace assessment and self-audit tools.
“Workplace safety educational information sessions and workshops ensure an increase in SA’s workplace safety standards and all workers achieve greater workplace awareness and safety knowledge,” she stated.
Following the Port Pirie event, the 2015 series will conclude with a seminar held in Adelaide in November, although at the time of publication, the details were yet to be finalised.
Caldarelli confirmed the series would be held again in 2016, and that MAQOHSC planned to expand upon the initiative.
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