Coal Competence Board
Establishment of a single mining competence board
The Work Health and Safety Legislation Amendment Act 2011 provides for amendments to mine safety legislation to establish a single mining competence board.
Currently the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 and the Mine Health and Safety Act 2004 both establish separate boards for the development and assessment of competence standards in NSW mining - the Coal Competence Board and the Metalliferous Mines and Extractive Industries Competence Board. Amendments to the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 and the Mine Health and Safety Act 2004, which at this time have not commenced, will create a single competence board for the coal, metalliferous and extractive sectors of the mining industry and dissolve the current boards.
These pages will be updated to reflect the new arrangements under the new Mining Competence Board, once established.
Coal Competence Board
The Coal Competence Board has been established to improve mine safety performance by ensuring the competence of people to work safely in the New South Wales mining industry. It advises the Minister and oversees the development of competence standards and the assessment of competencies and is working on the development of& a system for the maintenance of competence.
The Board was established in 2006 following the introduction of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 and Coal Mine Health and Safety Regulation 2006 and took over the work previously done by the Coal Mining Qualifications Board.
Mr John Maitland was appointed as the inaugural Chairman of the Board in 2006.
The Board has representation from the NSW Minerals Council, the CFMEU, people with expertise in the development and assessment of competence in the coal industry and senior officers from Mine Safety within NSW Trade and Investment.
A secretariat service is provided by staff located within Mine Safety Performance in NSW Trade and Investment.
Discussion paper
The Department has released a discussion paper to help stakeholders prepare submissions to assist and inform the NSW Coal Competence Board as they review the current requirements for the granting of certificates of competence. The Board is reviewing the current requirements with a view to proposing changes that will ensure they remain relevant and transparent.
Annual Report
Download the Coal Competence Board Annual Report for 2011:
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Coal competence board annual report 2011 |  21.0 KB |
Key board priorities
Competence standards
Industry input is being ;sought to identify all coal mining functions and to then identify the set of positions for which competencies should be identified. Minimum competencies and standards will be identified for these positions, where possible making use of the national coal competencies and other existing national training competencies.
A project commenced in January 2009 and completed in August 2009 has to identifed the skills in each of the statutory positions for which an Industry & Investment NSW Certificate of Competence is issued and to determine whether there was any gaps between:
- the industry role, and
- the competency standards in the national training packages, and
- the Coal Competence Board statutory examination syllabus.
The report on this project was presented to the Board in August 2009 and its recommendations were endorsed to be further considered and actioned for future examination processes, in consultation with industry
A system for the maintenance of competence
A requirement for the maintenance of competence for specified functions involving Certificates of Competence is being developed.
A discussion paper - The System of Training and Continuing Professional Development for Certificate of Competence Holders in the NSW Coal Industry - was released and is available for download above.
Endorsement of registered training organisations
Options for the introduction of a system outlining Coal Competence Board standards and guidelines for registered training organisations delivering training to the New South Wales coal mining industry are being developed.
One initiative is the pre-assessment of Registered Training Organisations by NSW Trade and Investment to register the new Resources and Infrastructure Training Packages on their scopes with the NSW Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board (NSW VETAB). NSW VETAB and the NSW Mining Industry and Skills Association are currently working with the Board to develop and implement the pre-assessment process for NSW Trade & Investment.