How to notify us over the holiday period.
Notifications
If someone has been seriously injured, become seriously ill, or died as a result of work – phone us on 0800 030 040 straight away. We have staff available to respond to these 24/7.
If you’re not sure what a notifiable event is, including your obligation to hold a scene, visit What events need to be notified?
Notifications made through our online form won't be monitored between 12pm on Tuesday 24 December 2024 and 8.30am on Monday 6 January 2025.
If you’re not sure if you need to notify us, use our online notification system and we’ll respond to you after 6 January 2025.
Health and safety concerns
If you have a health and safety concern that isn’t urgent, use our online form and we’ll respond to you after 6 January 2025.
Raise a health or safety concern
General enquiries
General enquiries made by phone or email after 12pm on Tuesday 24 December will be responded to from Monday 6 January 2025. This does not apply to notifications made by phone on 0800 030 040.
We wish you a safe and relaxing holiday.
There have been two recent near-miss incidents involving operations above historic underground workings. In both cases, underground voids were unexpectedly revealed when the surface caved into the void underneath working machinery.
Incident 1
An underground void was exposed on the surface of an active coal-crushing and screening plant when a frontend loader passed over the area. The ground collapsed under the rear right wheel. The operator immediately noticed the void and was able to drive out.
Incident 2
In an open cut operation, mining was actively progressing above a historic underground mine. Waste material was being top-loaded into dump trucks and when a dump truck moved out from the digger, the ground collapsed under the rear offside wheels. The truck was not able to drive out and needed to be towed out of the void.
Comment
These incidents show that it is important to:
- identify historic workings under the coal processing area as a hazard
- sufficiently verify historic underground plans for spatial accuracy, checking to ensure that the information is correct and stability hasn’t been further compromised
- identify weak rock above underground voids as they can collapse into the void
- be aware high ground water increases the propensity for caving (and reduced bulking of caved material).
More information
Historic underground workings pose significant risks to mining operations. All mines should identify any historic underground workings within their operations and use the New Zealand mine plans website(external link) as part of any investigation.
Assess the risk in areas where historic underground workings have been identified to exist, and involve a geotechnical engineer in the risk assessment team.
- Include in your assessments:
- information on depth of workings from the surface
- potential size of underground voids
- what rock types exist below surface, and what caving/bulking characteristics they have
- potential for voids to contain water and/or dangerous gases.
- Do not rely solely on historic underground plans to accurately locate underground tunnels as these are known to be spatially inaccurate. Use them to identify areas where workings exist, then utilise other investigation methods to verify tunnel locations (eg drill holes).
- Continually review risk assessments with updated information.
Further guidance can be found in our Good Practice Guidelines on Health and Safety at Opencast Mines, Alluvial Mines and Quarries [PDF, 12 MB].
Related information
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