Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 (QLD): Plain-English Summary

The Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 is the detailed rulebook under Queensland's Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999. The Act sets the framework: obligations, the safety and health management system, statutory positions. The Regulation fills in how it is done: what a mine's system must contain, which plans each mine type needs, the methane levels that make an explosion risk zone, and what an open-cut examiner must do after an inspection. It commenced on 1 September 2017 (s 2); the Act's general regulation-making power is s 282.

This guide walks through the Regulation in its own order, chapter by chapter, with the sections that do the most work and short quotes from the current text. It is built for coal mine workers who need to find a duty fast, and for candidates preparing for the Board of Examiners law exam, which RSHQ says covers the Act and this Regulation.

This is a plain-English study summary, not legal advice. The Regulation's own text is the law: where our summary and the text differ, the text wins. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) or the Board of Examiners.

Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 (Qld), current as at 1 September 2026, ss 102A, 149 and 343. Checked 5 Nov 2026.

The quickest way to find a duty is to know which chapter it lives in. Chapter 2 applies to every coal mine; the surface and underground chapters add to it. Section 4 says Chapter 2 applies to surface and underground mines "unless otherwise stated".

Source: Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 (Qld), current as at 1 September 2026, table of contents and ss 2 and 4.

One rule runs through Chapter 2. Section 5 says the chapter (apart from three listed subsections) "prescribes ways of achieving an acceptable level of risk", and that where it covers a circumstance, a person may discharge their safety and health obligation "only by following the ways prescribed". The preliminary parts of Chapters 3 and 4 have matching sections of their own (ss 102 and 148). In other words, where the Regulation prescribes a way, it is not optional.

The Act (s 62) requires every mine to have a safety and health management system. The Regulation says what goes in it. Section 6 lists the four basic elements: risk identification and assessment; hazard analysis; hazard management and control; and reporting and recording safety and health information. Section 8 adds what the system must tell people, including, for a surface mine, notifying the open-cut examiner of known hazards in and around the excavation, and for an underground mine, notifying the ERZ controller of known hazards in an ERZ.

Part 2A sets the safety and health fee and the census each mine gives; Part 2B (with Schedule 1B) deals with electing site safety and health representatives. Part 3 is the one to know well. Section 13A prescribes the reportable diseases (Schedule 1) for the Act's s 198AA. Section 14 prescribes the types of serious accident and high potential incident in Schedule 2. Under s 16, the SSE must give an inspector notice, in the approved form, of an injury needing treatment by a doctor, nurse or first aider, or that stops the person doing their normal duties, and of any other high potential incident. The time limit is within 1 month, unless the CEO or chief inspector approves a longer period of up to 12 months.

Section 16A lists a supervisor's responsibilities: making sure the workers they are responsible for get the supervision and help in ss 85A(2) and 85B; observing those workers perform tasks; carrying out workplace inspections the system requires; recording the reports, findings and recommendations of those inspections in the mine record; and implementing and monitoring hazard and risk controls.

Part 4 covers the electrical engineering manager's qualifications and duties (ss 17 and 18), who may work on electrical equipment (s 20), isolators, control systems, protection settings and records. Part 5 requires the system to provide for managing emergencies (s 35): identifying potential emergencies by risk assessment, aided rescue and self-escape, emergency exercises and their audit. Two position-specific points: at a surface mine an open-cut examiner must be involved in developing and testing emergency procedures for the excavation (s 35(2)(f)); at an underground mine an ERZ controller must be involved for explosion risk zones (s 35(2)(g)). Sections 36 to 38 cover visitors' self-escape, fire and first aid.

Division 1 covers alcohol and drugs. Section 41 requires the system to control risks from excessive alcohol, with an education program, an employee assistance program, and voluntary self-testing, random testing before starting work, and testing on reasonable suspicion. Section 42 does the same for personal fatigue (including the maximum hours for a shift, rest breaks, and the maximum hours in a week or roster cycle), other physical or psychological impairment, and the improper use of drugs.

Division 2 is the Coal Mine Workers' Health Scheme. An employer must appoint, in writing, an approved supervising doctor as its appointed medical adviser (s 45), and must arrange a health assessment before a person is employed as a coal mine worker and then within a period of no more than 5 years after the last one, decided by that adviser (s 46). Exit assessments, former worker assessments and the approval of providers follow (ss 49A to 49X).

The system must provide a training scheme (s 82), including induction and refresher training and training to the endorsed components of the resources and infrastructure industry training package. A person starting work at a mine "must not carry out any task at the mine unless the person has completed induction training for the mine", other than a task done in the course of induction training (s 83). Refresher training is required at least once every 5 years, including for senior managers, supervisors and certificate holders (s 84). For a task the training scheme designates for competent persons only, a worker must have been assessed as competent and be authorised by the SSE or the SSE's representative (s 85), except in training or an emergency.

Part 12 covers facilities, concealed services, asbestos, ladders, working at height and near water. Two sections carry numbers worth knowing. Under s 89, the system must keep a worker from breathing respirable dust above an 8-hour average of 1.5 mg/m³ for coal dust and 0.05 mg/m³ for free silica (calculated under AS 2985:2009), adjusted for shifts longer than 8 hours, with a review of controls if the levels are exceeded. Under s 91, noise exposure must not exceed the levels in the national standard for occupational noise. Part 13 covers matters such as monitoring structures, reporting defects, restricting access, boreholes and prohibited substances (s 100A, Schedule 2A).

Section 102A requires principal hazard management plans for at least: (a) roads or other vehicle operating areas; (b) ground or strata failure; (c) airborne dust or other airborne contaminants; (d) fire or explosion; and (e) any other principal hazard the operator or SSE identifies. (A principal hazard, under s 20 of the Act, is one with the potential to cause multiple fatalities.)

This is the part an open-cut examiner candidate should know almost word for word.

Source: Regulation ss 103 to 109. Our open-cut examiner certificate guide covers the experience, units, law exam and oral for the certificate itself.

Electrical engineering and protection for surface distribution and mobile equipment (Part 3); using explosives under the system (Part 4, s 115); spoil dumps, excavated faces and restricting access to hazardous areas (Part 5); highwall mining, including the abnormal circumstances declaration (Part 6, ss 119 to 125); surface plans (Part 7); mine road design and construction (Part 8, s 128); operator-attended dredges (Part 9); stockpile and coal waste dump operations (Part 10); and miscellaneous matters such as prohibited articles, safety inspections, flammable or toxic gas, heat stress, lighting, spray painting and trenches (Part 11, ss 140 to 146).

Section 149 is longer than its surface twin. An underground mine must have principal hazard management plans for at least: emergency response failure; gas management; methane drainage; mine ventilation failure; gas outbursts; spontaneous combustion; ground or strata failure; inundation or inrush of any substance; mine shafts and winding systems; subsidence; airborne dust or other airborne contaminants; fire or explosion; roads or other vehicle operating areas; and any other principal hazard the operator or SSE identifies.

Much of Chapter 4 hangs on how a part of the mine is classified. The classification is by the general body concentration of methane, known or identified by risk assessment (ss 287 to 289).

The ventilation officer's functions are in s 341: ensure adequate ventilation; ensure air quality is measured and recorded under s 362; take charge of any ventilation system change, by giving directions or being present; and ensure ventilation control devices are properly built and maintained. Under s 343 the system must keep the general body concentration of oxygen at at least 19% and methane at not more than 2.5%, with carbon dioxide and the Schedule 6 contaminants as low as reasonably achievable and within the exposure limits. Methane above 2.5% is a "methane event": its day, time, duration and place are recorded and the record kept for 7 years. Air quality and flow must be measured at the listed places at least once each month (s 362).

Source: Regulation Chapter 4, sections named, current as at 1 September 2026. Our deputy certificate guide covers the deputy's certificate and its exams.

Chapter 4A applies to every holder of a certificate of competency or an SSE notice (a "relevant holder"). For each CPD period, they must complete the CPD total hours and each mandatory CPD activity under the practising certificate scheme (s 370AC), and notify the Board of Examiners as soon as practicable after completing CPD hours for an activity (s 370AD). Each carries a maximum penalty of 3 penalty units. The Board approves CPD activities and publishes the scheme, which states the hours, the periods and the rules for issuing and renewing practising certificates (s 370AE).

Source: Regulation, schedules, current as at 1 September 2026, in the order printed.

RSHQ says the law exam questions cover the legislation relevant to the position. These are the sections of the Regulation that name each role, as a place to start. They are not a list of exam questions. For the exam itself (format, 70% in each part, resits), see our Queensland coal mining law exam guide.

These two are our own, written from the current text to show how a question on the Regulation can turn on one word. They are not Board of Examiners questions.

These questions play in our practice player: press Start, answer them, and the result page explains each answer with the section it comes from. They are our own practice questions on the Act and the Regulation.