Open Pit / Open Cut Mining Operations SWMS
Open pit operations — bench geometry, haul road maintenance, fleet interaction, dewatering, edge protection. Covers iron ore, coal, gold, base metals open-cut. Heat exposure and haul truck driver fatigue management included.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Mining open pit operations covers the extraction of ore and waste from a surface excavation through drilling, blasting, loading and haulage, working the pit in benches down from the surface. The defining hazards of open-pit mining are the stability of the pit walls and benches — a slope failure or bench collapse can bury workers and plant — and the constant interaction between very large mobile plant and lighter vehicles and people on the haul roads and at the loading faces. Open-pit work also generates respirable dust including crystalline silica, exposes workers to diesel particulate matter from the haulage fleet, and involves the hazards of drilling and blasting. This document is written on the basis that the pit is designed and managed to control ground instability, that plant and light vehicles are rigorously separated, and that dust and diesel exposures are monitored and controlled.
Open-pit operations are governed by the dual regime that applies to mining: the model Work Health and Safety Regulations, under which work in or near an excavation, movement of powered mobile plant and the use of explosives are high risk construction work requiring a safe work method statement, and the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations, under which the mine operator must identify the principal mining hazards — including ground or strata instability and mobile plant — and prepare a principal mining hazard management plan for each. Respirable dust, crystalline silica and diesel particulate matter are controlled against their exposure standards. This document coordinates the slope-stability, plant-interaction, dust and diesel controls so the pit is worked without a ground failure or a plant collision.
Hazards identified
9 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Burial and death of workers and plant from a slope or bench collapse
Crush and run-over injury from the size and blind spots of mining plant
Rollover, run-away and edge-overrun causing fatal injury
Silicosis and respiratory disease from cumulative dust inhalation
Carcinogenic diesel exhaust exposure across the pit
Flyrock, misfire and premature initiation during blasting operations
Vehicles or persons going over an unprotected edge
Deterioration of slope stability over time and after weather events
Permanent noise-induced hearing loss without effective hearing protection
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Engineering: design and manage the pit to a geotechnical model — bench heights, batter angles, berms and overall slope angles set by a competent person — with ongoing slope monitoring and trigger-action responses to deformation.
- 2Engineering: separate mining plant from light vehicles and people through traffic management, positive communication, proximity-detection where fitted, and designated parking and exclusion areas.
- 3Engineering: maintain haul roads, grades, windrows and dump-point edge protection, and apply dust suppression with water carts and on-equipment controls to manage respirable dust and silica.
- 4Engineering: control diesel particulate matter through low-emission and maintained engines, and monitor against the diesel particulate matter exposure standard, currently 0.1 mg/m3 as an eight-hour time-weighted average measured as sub-micron elemental carbon, with a Workplace Exposure Limit of 0.01 mg/m3 measured as respirable elemental carbon applying from 1 December 2026.
- 5Administrative: prepare a principal mining hazard management plan for ground or strata instability and for mobile plant, and a SWMS for the high risk construction work — work in or near an excavation, movement of powered mobile plant and the use of explosives.
- 6Administrative: air monitoring for respirable dust, crystalline silica and diesel particulate matter against the respirable crystalline silica workplace exposure standard of 0.05 mg/m3 (eight-hour time-weighted average), reframed as a workplace exposure limit from 1 December 2026, with exceedances reported to the regulator and the diesel standard, with health monitoring for workers carrying out high-risk silica work and records retained.
- 7Administrative: drilling and blasting under a defined procedure with exclusion zones, misfire management and competent shotfirers, and geotechnical review after rainfall and seismic events.
- 8Administrative: all workers must hold a valid White Card (General Construction Induction Training, CPCCWHS1001) where construction work applies, and the mining inductions, statutory tickets and competencies required for the mine before entering the operation.
- 9Administrative: conduct a pre-shift toolbox talk covering the day's work, the principal mining hazards and their controls, atmospheric and ground conditions, plant movements, required PPE and emergency procedures, and record attendance in the consultation section.
- 10Administrative: consult workers and health and safety representatives on the work and its risks, record the consultation, and keep this document and the relevant plans available at the operation.
- 11PPE: underground or site high-visibility clothing, head protection, eye protection to AS/NZS 1337.1, hearing protection matched to the measured noise, gloves, and Class I or Class II safety footwear with protective toecap to AS/NZS 2210.3.
- 12Administrative: review and update this SWMS and the relevant principal mining hazard management plan whenever the work, the ground or atmospheric conditions, the plant or the controls change, after any incident or near miss, when a worker or health and safety representative raises a concern, or at minimum every 12 months.
Applicable Codes of Practice
The mining-specific regulations requiring identification of principal mining hazards and a principal mining hazard management plan for each, within the mine safety management system.
The risk management process and hierarchy of controls applied to the principal mining hazards of the work.
The risk assessment, silica risk control plan, air monitoring and health monitoring duties where the work generates respirable crystalline silica.
Controls and the exposure standard for the high noise levels generated by mining and processing plant.
Selection, fit testing, use and maintenance of the respiratory protection required for the dust, diesel particulate, silica and atmospheric hazards of the work.
High-Risk Construction Work triggered
Open-pit benches and excavations exceed 1.5 metres, so the work is high risk construction work requiring a SWMS before the work commences, with the excavation and slopes engineered against failure.
Large haul trucks, excavators and loaders move continuously through the pit, bringing the work within this category and driving the plant-and-light-vehicle separation controls.
Drilling and blasting at the pit faces uses explosives, which is high risk construction work on that count and is also a principal mining hazard.
This work is governed by the dual mining regime. Under the model WHS Regulations it is high risk construction work — engaging the categories above — so a SWMS must be prepared before the work commences, kept readily accessible, reviewed as necessary, and given to the principal contractor if one is appointed. Under the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations the mine operator must identify the principal mining hazards relating to slope and ground instability, and the movement of large mobile plant and prepare a principal mining hazard management plan for each, within the mine safety management system. Where the work generates respirable crystalline silica, the silica risk control plan, air monitoring and health monitoring duties apply, with the exposure standard reframed as a workplace exposure limit from 1 December 2026. Mining incidents in this category can be catastrophic, and breaches of the primary duty of care under the model WHS Act and the mines legislation are actively enforced, with offence categories running from failure-to-comply through to reckless conduct, and the most serious breaches carrying imprisonment for individuals. Body-corporate maxima are substantial and indexed; the current maximum follows the prevailing schedule of the responsible regulator.
Who this is for
- →Open-pit mine operators and mining contractors extracting ore and waste.
- →Haul truck, excavator, loader and dozer operators working the pit.
- →Drill and blast crews at the open-pit faces.
- →Geotechnical and mining engineers managing slope stability and the pit design.
- →Mine managers and supervisors overseeing the principal mining hazard management plans and the SWMS.
What you receive
- ✓Editable Microsoft Word document (.docx) fully compatible with Microsoft Word 2016 and newer, Google Docs, and LibreOffice Writer.
- ✓Title page with editable fields for the mine operator and PCBU name, ABN, site address, project name, principal contractor details, and document revision date.
- ✓Hazard register with the mining open pit operations hazards — each with a documented consequence, inherent risk rating on a 5x5 likelihood-consequence matrix, hierarchy-of-control measures, and residual risk rating.
- ✓Slope-stability and geotechnical monitoring prompts, a traffic-management and plant-separation section, dust, silica and diesel particulate air-monitoring record fields, and a drilling-and-blasting and misfire-management section.
- ✓Principal mining hazard management plan reference prompts and, where relevant, a silica risk control plan aligned to the model crystalline silica Code of Practice referencing the 0.05 mg/m3 exposure standard.
- ✓Competency, statutory-ticket and induction verification fields, and a respiratory protection selection and fit-test record per AS/NZS 1715.
- ✓Worker consultation record and a worker sign-on register (blank, expandable).
- ✓Applicable legislation and Codes of Practice schedule pre-populated for the model WHS and mines jurisdiction with a state-variance reference table covering the harmonised states, plus Victoria.
- ✓Emergency procedure template and a revision log.
Worked example
An open-pit mine is drilling, blasting, loading and hauling ore and waste, working the pit in benches with a large haulage fleet. Because the benches exceed 1.5 metres, powered mobile plant moves continuously, and blasting uses explosives, a SWMS is prepared, and principal mining hazard management plans are in place for ground or strata instability and for mobile plant. The pit is designed and managed to a geotechnical model with bench heights, batter angles and berms set by a competent person, and slope monitoring with trigger-action responses tracks any deformation, with geotechnical review after rainfall and seismic events. Mining plant and light vehicles are separated by traffic management, positive communication and proximity detection, and haul roads, windrows and dump-point edge protection are maintained. Dust suppression with water carts controls respirable dust and silica, and the diesel fleet is low-emission and maintained. Air monitoring tracks respirable dust, crystalline silica and diesel particulate against their standards, with health monitoring for silica-exposed workers. Drilling and blasting runs under a defined procedure with exclusion zones, misfire management and competent shotfirers. The plans, SWMS, monitoring and geotechnical records are retained.
Related legislation
- Model Work Health and Safety Act — primary duty of care; the duty to consult workers; the reckless-conduct offence; and notifiable-incident provisions, as enacted in each jurisdiction.
- Model Work Health and Safety Regulations — Section 291 high risk construction work and the SWMS preparation and review duties, and where relevant the crystalline silica high-risk processing, silica risk control plan, air monitoring and health monitoring provisions, as enacted in each jurisdiction.
- Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation / Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations — identification of principal mining hazards, principal mining hazard management plans, the mine safety management system and, for underground mines, ventilation control plans, as enacted in each jurisdiction.
- Exposure standards: respirable crystalline silica 0.05 mg/m3 (eight-hour TWA), reframed as a workplace exposure limit from 1 December 2026; respirable dust and, in coal, the lower coal-mine dust standard; and diesel particulate matter, currently 0.1 mg/m3 (sub-micron elemental carbon) with a Workplace Exposure Limit of 0.01 mg/m3 (respirable elemental carbon) from 1 December 2026.
- Victoria, and other jurisdictions, operate their own mining safety and work health and safety legislation; in Victoria the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and Regulations 2017 and the relevant mining instruments apply in place of the model instruments.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main hazard in open-pit mining?
The stability of the pit walls and benches is a defining hazard — a slope failure or bench collapse can bury workers and plant — alongside the interaction between very large mobile plant and lighter vehicles and people. These are principal mining hazards requiring their own management plans, and the work is also high risk construction work as excavation with movement of powered mobile plant and the use of explosives.
How is slope stability managed in an open pit?
The pit is designed and managed to a geotechnical model, with bench heights, batter angles, berms and overall slope angles set by a competent person, and ongoing slope monitoring with trigger-action responses to any deformation. Geotechnical conditions are reviewed after rainfall and seismic events, because slope stability can deteriorate over time and after weather, and the controls form the ground-instability principal mining hazard management plan.
How are dust and diesel exposures controlled in the pit?
Through dust suppression with water carts and on-equipment controls for respirable dust and crystalline silica, and low-emission, well-maintained diesel engines for diesel particulate matter, with air monitoring against the exposure standards. The respirable crystalline silica standard is 0.05 mg/m3, and the diesel particulate matter standard is currently 0.1 mg/m3, with a lower limit of 0.01 mg/m3 applying from 1 December 2026.
Why is plant interaction so dangerous in open-pit mining?
Mining plant such as haul trucks and excavators is very large with extensive blind spots, so a light vehicle or person near it can be struck or run over before being seen. Plant and light vehicles are separated through traffic management, positive communication, proximity detection where fitted, and designated parking and exclusion areas, managed under the mobile-plant principal mining hazard management plan.
What plans are required for open-pit operations?
Under the mines regulations, the operator prepares a principal mining hazard management plan for each principal mining hazard, including ground or strata instability and mobile plant, and an SWMS is required under the model WHS Regulations for the high risk construction work. Air monitoring, health monitoring for silica-exposed workers, and a drilling-and-blasting procedure with misfire management sit within that framework.