The Department of Mineral Resources is conducting workshops for prospective mine operators in Lightning Ridge and surrounding areas to ensure all miners are qualified under existing and new mining legislation.
The legislation came into force on September 1 and requires all mines of five people or less to have assessed any reasonable foreseeable risk to safety or health.
There is also legislation currently before Parliament that specifically mentions opal mining and addresses the acceptance of occupational health and safety throughout the opal mining industry.
In response to the legislation, the Department of Mineral Resources has developed, in consultation with the opal industry, a Mine Safety Management Plan specifically targeted at opal mines that can be adopted by all opal miners to bring them into compliance with the new and existing legislation.
The workshop costs $110 including GST and will take one full day to complete.
At the workshops, miners will be given a copy of a Mine Safety Management Plan, which will be explained in full, and will also be told about the new legislation and its requirements.
Miners will also receive a log book and all the necessary documentation needed to comply with the legislation.
Some refinement to the MSMP will need to be done for each claim.
Mine safety officers for the Department of Mineral Resources David Howell and Jim McMahon will run the workshops at the department's offices.
Mr McMahon said the department had tried to make the Mine Safety Management Plan as simple as possible so it could be easily adopted by the miners in the area.
"The MSMP has been condensed as far as we can and still have it comply with the legislation. We've reduced it down, and can still safely say it covers all the necessary legislation. If they (opal miners) were in any other mining industry in NSW they would have to do all this for themselves. All it's costing them here is $110, they get a day's training and all the necessary paperwork to do it."
About 2500 miners need to complete the workshop and it will be held about three days a week.
Because of size restrictions and the intensity of the course there is a limited number of people who can take the workshop at the one time.
Mr McMahon estimated it would take 18 months to two years to take all the miners through the workshop.
Every mine operator will have to do the mine operators workshop, even if they decide to produce their own MSMP.
If miners choose to develop their own mine safety management plan it will be audited by the Department of Mineral Resources to ensure it covers all points in the legislation.
"We know how much time and effort it takes to develop something like this, and each mine operator would probably find it easier to accept what's already laid out for them rather than doing it themselves.
"Title holders are bound by law to have a mine safety management plan," said Mr McMahon.
The log book is expected to be filled in and if at any time a field officer wants to inspect it, it will have to be up to date.
"Hopefully, this will improve the safety culture in the mining industry on the Lightning Ridge opal fields, so miners stop and think before they go mining. They will make sure the equipment is going to be right and further improve safety," Mr McMahon said.
In the future the Department of Mineral Resources plans to amalgamate this workshop with the Safety Awareness Course people have to complete before they can register a claim.
Holders of claims between 1993 and 1995 that have previously been exempt from this course will new need to complete it before June 30 2005.
Lightning Ridge Miners' Association secretary/ manager Maxine O'Brien said the association had worked with the Department of Mineral Resources to ensure the best possible outcome for the miners.
"We've sat down during the past year and discussed the issue with the Department of Mineral Resources, and we believe through our efforts we've got the system as simple as we possibly can," she said.
"It's going to take a while for the miners to get used to it...and our message has always been to our members that if they mine safely and there are no accidents there won't be any problems."
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