Mining & Quarry Operations Work SWMS
Mining and quarry operations covering underground and open-cut mines across NSW, QLD, WA, NT — RSHQ, DEMIRS, and NSW Resources Regulator frameworks.
SWMS variants reference your state’s WHS legislation. Instant download after payment.
Mining and quarry covers the extraction and processing of rock, ore, sand, gravel and other materials from surface quarries and mines — drilling, blasting, excavating, loading, hauling, crushing and screening the material. It is an overarching activity that brings together the full set of mining and quarrying hazards: ground and slope instability at the faces and benches, the constant interaction of large mobile plant with people and light vehicles, the use of explosives, the respirable dust and crystalline silica generated throughout the process, diesel particulate matter from the fleet, and the mechanical hazards of the processing plant. This document is the overarching quarry and mining SWMS that sets out the framework and the high risk construction work categories and principal mining hazards that apply across the operation, and it works alongside the task-specific method statements for the individual quarrying and mining activities.
Mining and quarrying is governed by the dual regime: 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 operator identifies all principal mining hazards — such as ground instability, mobile plant, explosives and airborne contaminants — and prepares a principal mining hazard management plan for each, within a mine safety management system. The exposure standards for respirable crystalline silica, respirable dust and diesel particulate matter are the targets the dust and atmospheric controls meet. This document coordinates the ground, plant, explosives, dust, silica and diesel controls that run across quarry and mine operations.
Hazards identified
9 hazards covered, sorted by priority.
Burial and death from a slope, bench or face collapse
Crush and run-over injury from the size and blind spots of mining and quarry plant
Flyrock, misfire and premature initiation during blasting
Silicosis and respiratory disease from cumulative dust inhalation
Carcinogenic diesel exhaust exposure across the operation
Crush and entanglement at crushers, conveyors and screens
Fall injury from quarry faces and elevated plant access
Permanent noise-induced hearing loss without effective hearing protection
Vehicles or persons going over an unprotected edge
Control measures
Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.
- 1Engineering: manage ground and slope stability to a geotechnical model — bench and face design, slope monitoring and trigger-action responses — by a competent person, with edge protection at benches, faces and dump points.
- 2Engineering: separate mobile plant from people and light vehicles through traffic management, positive communication and proximity detection, and maintain haul roads, grades and windrows.
- 3Engineering: control respirable dust and crystalline silica at the dust-generating points — water suppression, enclosure and extraction at drilling, crushing, screening and transfer points — and control diesel particulate through low-emission, maintained engines and 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.
- 4Engineering: guard the crushing and screening plant and apply a rigorous energy-isolation regime for maintenance and blockage clearing, with safe elevated access.
- 5Administrative: prepare principal mining hazard management plans for the identified principal hazards — ground instability, mobile plant, explosives and airborne contaminants — within a mine safety management system, and a SWMS for the high risk construction work, applying the task-specific method statements for each activity.
- 6Administrative: air monitoring for respirable crystalline silica 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, respirable dust and diesel particulate, with health monitoring for silica-exposed workers and records retained.
- 7Administrative: drilling and blasting under a defined procedure with exclusion zones, misfire management and competent shotfirers, and competent supervision with authority to withdraw workers on adverse conditions.
- 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
Quarry and mine excavations, benches and faces exceed 1.5 metres, so the work is high risk construction work requiring a SWMS before the relevant work commences.
Large mobile plant moves continuously across the operation, bringing the work within this category and driving the plant-and-light-vehicle separation controls.
Drilling and blasting 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 the range of principal mining hazards across the quarry or mine operation 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
- →Quarry and mine operators extracting and processing rock, ore, sand and gravel.
- →Drill, blast, load, haul, crushing and screening crews.
- →Mobile plant operators across the operation.
- →Geotechnical, mining and processing engineers.
- →Quarry and 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 quarry hazards — each with a documented consequence, inherent risk rating on a 5x5 likelihood-consequence matrix, hierarchy-of-control measures, and residual risk rating.
- ✓Ground and slope-stability prompts, a traffic-management and plant-separation section, dust, silica and diesel air-monitoring fields, and references to the task-specific quarrying and mining method statements.
- ✓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
A quarry is drilling, blasting, excavating, loading, hauling, crushing and screening rock. Rather than treat these in isolation, the operator uses this overarching quarry and mining SWMS to set the framework and the applicable high risk construction work categories and principal mining hazards, then applies the task-specific method statements for each activity. Ground and slope stability is managed to a geotechnical model with bench and face design, slope monitoring and trigger-action responses, and edge protection at benches, faces and dump points. Mobile plant is separated from people and light vehicles through traffic management, positive communication and proximity detection, with maintained haul roads. Respirable dust and crystalline silica are controlled at the dust-generating points with water suppression, enclosure and extraction, and diesel particulate through low-emission, maintained engines. The crushing and screening plant is guarded with a rigorous energy-isolation regime. Principal mining hazard management plans for ground instability, mobile plant, explosives and airborne contaminants are in place within a mine safety management system, and a SWMS for the high risk construction work. Air monitoring tracks silica, dust and diesel particulate, with health monitoring for silica-exposed workers, and blasting runs under a defined procedure with misfire management. The plans, SWMS and monitoring 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 hazards does quarrying and mining bring together?
The full set of mining and quarrying hazards: ground and slope instability at faces and benches, the interaction of large mobile plant with people and light vehicles, the use of explosives, respirable dust and crystalline silica throughout the process, diesel particulate matter from the fleet, and the mechanical hazards of the processing plant. These are principal mining hazards with their own management plans, and the work is also high risk construction work.
What plans are required to operate a quarry or mine?
Under the mines regulations the operator identifies all principal mining hazards — such as ground instability, mobile plant, explosives and airborne contaminants — and prepares a principal mining hazard management plan for each, within a mine safety management system, while a SWMS is required under the model WHS Regulations for the high risk construction work. The task-specific method statements add the detail for each activity.
How are dust and silica controlled across the operation?
Respirable dust and crystalline silica are controlled at the dust-generating points throughout drilling, blasting, crushing, screening and transfer — with water suppression, enclosure and extraction — and air monitoring is conducted against the silica standard of 0.05 mg/m3, with health monitoring for workers carrying out high-risk silica work. Diesel particulate is controlled through low-emission, maintained engines and monitored against the diesel standard.
How does this relate to the task-specific method statements?
This overarching quarry and mining SWMS sets out the framework, the high risk construction work categories and the principal mining hazards that run across the operation, and it is designed to be used together with the task-specific method statements for the individual activities — drilling and blasting, open-pit operations, crushing and screening, and the others. The task-specific documents add the detailed hazards, controls and worked methods.
Why is mobile plant interaction a leading hazard?
Mining and quarry plant such as haul trucks, excavators and loaders is very large with extensive blind spots, so a person or light vehicle near it can be struck or run over before being seen. Plant and light vehicles are separated through traffic management, positive communication and proximity detection, managed under the mobile-plant principal mining hazard management plan, because plant interaction is one of the leading causes of fatalities in the sector.