The University of Queensland"s Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC) developed MIRMGate internet site to assess risk management is allowing leading mining and metals companies to achieve an even greater standard of risk assessment, helping to ensure that there is no excuse for poor health and safety performance.

In a recent report in the International Council for Mining and Metals Good Practice report, University of Queensland's Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC) acting director Carmel Bofinger outlined the development of MIRMgate, a web-based tool to help companies manage risk.

In her report Carmel Bofinger says:

The notion of risk covers a wide range of events that can impinge on mining activities. Risk of injury, community alienation, and environmental damage all pose threats to the mining industry and may undermine a company's licence to operate.

Although mining companies vary in their approach to identifying hazards and managing risks, one of the most commonly-used tools in contemporary safety management is risk assessment. Risk assessments are undertaken at all phases of the mining cycle - during the process of filing mining licences for example, right through to introducing new equipment in a mine and defining work practice expectations. Increasingly, conducting a risk assessment has become a legal requirement.

Assessing risk is about imagination and information. It is about being able to identify potential hazards and pre-empt unacceptable risks that could occur during the development of a new mine, a new system, or even a new mining method. Risk assessment can either be a complex process taking many months and multiple resources, or it can take the form of a simple desktop exercise conducted by an engineer. The complexity of the process depends on the scale of what is being planned.

Numerous approaches have been developed by the minerals industry to guide people in carrying out risk assessments. However, until recently, there has not been a centralized way to access this diversity of information and optimize risk management processes.
The MIRMgate (Minerals Industry Risk Management gateway) internet site was launched last year to provide a central comprehensive resource. It was initially developed at a national level in Australia, supported by all state regulators and subsequently by the Minerals Council of Australia and major mining companies operating in the country. It has since become a global initiative, through the support of ICMM.

MIRMgate gives users access to good practice information about risk planning and management. It functions like a library system, allowing users to search for information on subjects as complex as a risk management methodology or as basic as a procedure developed to handle a particular toxic chemical.

MIRMgate is based on pooling risk management information and sharing it globally to enhance decision-making. Since the international version was launched a year ago, over 1000 quality resources have been made available on the site. The volume of users and the amount of information being accessed has grown steadily with more than 10,000 visits over the past year.

MIRMgate recently expanded to include a 'lessons learned' section. This captures experience from company initiatives that have not gone to plan. In addition, 16 international safety organizations have been approached about introducing more global resources to the site.

MIRMgate will continue to evolve as more companies contribute resources and begin to use the site. Companies can support the growth of the site through raising awareness among peers and by submitting internally-developed hazard management information.

Report first published in the ICMM Good Practice newsletter