Queensland Mining Health Hazards

Health hazards in Queensland mining and quarrying have been prioritised by the Health Improvement and Awareness Committee. The prioritisation is based on a simple consequence/probability risk matrix (PDF, 23 kB) and does not treat high consequence/low probability hazards differently from other hazards.

The ranking of the health hazards is a HIAC agreed ranking and does not necessarily reflect the risk ranking that may be determined by any individual member of HIAC or the group they represent. The ranking exercise used literature from similar health hazard management activities  specific to mining and quarrying.

The health hazard rankings are listed in order of priority. The top 8 hazards for HIAC are below. Further information on the hazard topic is available on each of these priority hazards:

• Noise
• Whole body vibration (WBV)
• UV sunlight
• Dust including respirable crystalline silica
• Working on uneven ground
• Manual handling
• Workplace design including access and egress
• Heat/thermal stress

Information on the other health hazards will be progressively available.

• Hazardous Chemicals (high hazard)
• Metals including lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic
• Diesel fumes
• Isocyanates
• Static seating postures
• Health effects of shiftwork and extended work
• Loss of function due to aging
• General health issues
• Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)
• Ionising radiation
• Asbestos
• Infectious diseases
• Hand arm vibration
• Mine gases
• Repetitive tasks
• Stress
• Hazardous Chemicals (moderate hazard)
• Pre-existing injuries or disorders
• Legionella
• Welding fume
• Contaminated drinking water
• Hazardous Chemicals (low hazard)
• Synthetic mineral fibres
• Electric and magnetic field radiation (EMF)

The spreadsheet tool used to carry out the risk assessment is available as an excel spreadsheet (Excel, 44 kB).