(121c) Do the Mining and Minerals Processing Industry Need Process Safety or Systems Safety Engineering?

There are a variety of different labels and categories of approaches used to manage safety in the mining, minerals processing and related industries. These approaches to safety be defined and explained with using case study examples and incidents. These events highlight that mining is a high hazard industry where it is important to manage safety but is process safety the right approach to address the industry’s current and emerging risks?

The mining and minerals processing industries are undergoing significant change. In Australia, there is increased the adoption of autonomous vehicles and remote operations centres. Further change is promised with further technological advancements, the pursuit of critical minerals and rare earth minerals and the transition to low carbon energy sources. These changes change risks, risk exposures and risk vulnerabilities that need to be managed to safely maximise outputs from investments while simultaneously avoiding disasters. But what is the best approach for managing the complexity of interacting mining and minerals processing risks?

This presentation will propose an integrated approach for addressing the principal hazards, process safety and system safety risks that mining and minerals company face. It will follow ISO31000 the International Standard for Risk Management guidance that states the first step in managing risks is to set the context and scope then to determine the risk assessment, risk treatment and organisational activities required to identify and sustainably manage unacceptable risks. It will also refer to industry guidance including the CCPS and ICMM risk-based guidance materials. It will conclude by proposing a self-assessment maturity tool to help organisations determine their baseline performance and identify and prioritise improvement opportunities.