The Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce (Taskforce) met for the first time on 8 April 2025 in Sydney. The meeting was chaired by Trent Curtin, A/Deputy Secretary, SafeWork NSW.
Taskforce membership includes senior representatives from the following areas:
- Australian Constructors Association
- Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists
- Australian Tunnelling Society
- Australian Workers Union
- CFMEU
- Dust Diseases Board
- Infrastructure NSW
- Insurance and Care NSW (icare)
- Medicine, health and academia
- NSW Health
- SafeWork NSW
- Transport for NSW
- Unions NSW
The Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Work Health and Safety, The Hon. Sophie Cotsis MP, attended the first Taskforce meeting. The Minister emphasised the importance of shared responsibility and working together to address silica-related work health and safety issues in tunnelling projects. The Minister also urged Taskforce members to use the collective expertise of its members to translate knowledge into action and drive improvements.
Terms of reference
Members considered and endorsed the draft terms of reference for the Taskforce.
Areas for action
Members discussed and agreed the four broad areas of action identified by the NSW Government to help guide and focus the work of the Taskforce:
- better use of data and more transparent access
- improved health monitoring
- best practice work health and safety controls
- enhanced compliance.
Members discussed the notification data that SafeWork NSW receives under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 section 529CE. These notifications are from persons conducting a business or undertaking that carry out the processing of crystalline silica substances that is high risk and where air monitoring results at the workplace show that the airborne concentration of respirable crystalline silica has exceeded the workplace exposure standard. It was noted that data on exceedance of a workplace exposure standard does not necessarily mean that a worker has been exposed to respirable crystalline silica dust above the standard, as an individual's level of exposure depends on the health and safety controls in place.
Members supported SafeWork NSW's decision to publish this notification data and SafeWork NSW has now published the data on its website. Taskforce members provided valuable insights on how to improve the collection of workplace exposure standard exceedance data. The expert medical view was that data on workplace exposure standard exceedance should be complemented by data on actual worker exposure to give a more complete picture of health risks to workers and inform better targeted health screening activity for workers. SafeWork NSW will use these insights to continue to update its website and improve the transparency and accessibility of the data.
The Taskforce also discussed the importance of data sharing between key stakeholders, including government agencies. Members committed to sharing data to ensure better use of data and more transparent access to it. Members considered that broadly there are adequate existing mechanisms to share data, particularly between government agencies, but these mechanisms need to be used more effectively including to support research.
Members were aided to gain a shared understanding of the scope of the issues by sharing expert insights. This included insights from medical experts on silicosis and silica-related diseases in NSW, insights into the infrastructure pipeline for tunnelling projects in NSW, and SafeWork NSW's compliance activities.
The Taskforce discussed and encouraged increased collection and availability of data and information to support research, particularly relating to early detection, intervention, and long-term follow-up for workers exposed to crystalline silica in tunnelling.
The importance of using engineering controls to minimise risks to health and safety in tunnelling projects was another key area of discussion. There was broad agreement that successful implementation of engineering controls relied on addressing such matters in the procurement and design phase of a project. Taskforce members also noted that effective use of engineering controls and other control measures required consistent education and training for workers across the industry, which is not currently the case from the experience of unions. Further, it is important that industry and union experience in safety in tunnelling projects is involved in the process of developing best practice engineering controls and other safety measures. SafeWork NSW noted that an external working group will be soon convened to inform the rewrite of the Tunnels Under Construction Code of Practice.
The Taskforce discussed the role of compliance in improving tunnelling work health and safety. This included discussion on penalties, statutory time limits for prosecution and the role and powers of unions and entry permit holders. Safework NSW will review the existing legislative mechanisms to support compliance, including the role of unions and entry permit holders, to inform further discussion at the next meeting on actions for the Taskforce, noting that any legislative change would be a matter for the Minister and the Government.
Members of the Taskforce identified clear actions on which to collaborate and progress, culminating in the 10-point action plan detailed below. The action plan may develop over time. The focus of the Taskforce will now be driving and implementing the action plan. The Taskforce will continue to report on its progress through regular communiques.
Tunnelling Dust Safety Taskforce 10-point Action Plan
Better use of data and more transparent access
- SafeWork NSW to publish workplace exposure standard (WES) exceedance data by industry and by reporting quarter on its website.
- Safework NSW to research and analyse data collection systems in other jurisdictions and consult with Taskforce members on the form of further data collection under existing statutory mechanisms.
- Transport for NSW and Infrastructure NSW to review contract arrangements and procurement processes with industry to assess how they can be used to collect and share relevant data.
Improved health monitoring
- Taskforce members to collaborate to support access to data for research purposes.
- NSW Health and icare to investigate improved use and accessibility of National Occupational Respiratory Disease Register (NORDR) data as well as ways to improve icare's access to medical imaging on eHealth to increase efficiency and timeliness of health screening for workers and related decision-making.
- icare, with the support of industry and the Australian Constructors Association, to examine practices and standards used in the mining sector for health screening tools, including medical assessments and monitoring for workers who have exited the tunnelling industry.
Best practice work health and safety controls
- SafeWork NSW, in consultation with unions, to review crystalline silica training for tunnelling workers, including for culturally and linguistically diverse workers.
- Transport for NSW and Infrastructure NSW to lead a review of best practice engineering controls and other good practices in tunnelling projects, to inform procurement processes to standardise best practice.
Enhanced compliance
- SafeWork NSW to increase the focus on compliance to ensure appropriate consultation and provide advice and support for Health and Safety Representatives in tunnelling workplaces.
- SafeWork NSW to engage with the NSW Resource Regulator on engineering controls used in the mining industry to inform compliance approaches in tunnelling.
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