The 35th Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference showcased the best in safety technology and workplace culture.
Since its first iteration more than three decades ago, the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference (QMIHSC) has grown to become a leading event on the industry calendar.
The annual conference provides the resources sector with opportunities to exchange information, form connections and foster proactive health and safety management techniques.
And the 2024 event more than lived up to this vision.
Held at the Star Gold Coast from August 18–21, this year’s QMIHSC had the theme of ‘Back to the future’, which explored whether the relative simplicity of the past can work in harmony with advancements in the present to create a safer future.
“This year’s content was relevant to industry’s changing health, wellbeing and safety landscape, covering current and future matters and catering to our diverse delegate cohort,” QMIHSC chair Larnie Mackay told Safe to Work.
“Extended interactions between our keynotes and delegates were positively embraced last year and this continued in 2024, with opportunities available to engage one-on-one.
“We encouraged delegates to share knowledge, expertise and insights into important health and safety matters with keynotes speakers and other delegates.”
Josh Jones was among these keynote speakers. Beginning life in the industry as an apprentice diesel fitter in 2012, Jones’ mining career was cut short after a 2015 accident left him an amputee and resulted in the death of a colleague.
After nearly two years of recovery, Jones started his career in commercial real estate. While he has seen great success in that field, Jones was motivated to make a difference in the health and safety space.
“I returned to the industry in 2023 where the main focus was to share my story in order to further improve safety awareness by making safety more personal,” Jones told Safe to Work.
“I was invited to the 2023 QMIHSC as a guest by the Thiess safety team. I was impressed with the industry knowledge and innovative technologies in the safety space and was keen to be a part of it.”
The 2023 QMIHSC theme of ‘Inside looking out’ made Jones realise there were valuable lessons from his story that needed to be shared on a wider scale.
“It was at the 2023 conference where I decided to throw my hat into the ring to be selected as a keynote speaker in 2024,” Jones said.
Jones’ presentation at this year’s QMIHSC, ‘Ripple effect’, shed a light on the issues that contributed to his accident and how it changed his life, as well as others around him.
“By sharing my vulnerabilities with the industry, I hope to break down the stigma surrounding poor mental health and show others that we don’t need to be ashamed of having mental health issues and hide them but instead face them head on and be open with our families and work mates,” Jones said.
“Talking about these issues is one of our best solutions.”
Jones believes safety is more than a series of policies and procedures.
“We need to make safety personal and give our workers more ownership over their wellbeing,” he said. “We all have a part to play in improving safety across the industry and I feel that accountability is a huge step in moving in the right direction.
“We need to build more trust between our colleagues on-site. This is a vital component to creating a safer environment, as if we have colleagues that aren’t taking accountability for their actions, it will cause serious damage to the trust between workers.
“Everyone needs to remember that getting home to our families at the end of each day is not a given. The equipment we are surrounded by daily has potential to cause serious harm and we must not forget that.”
This feature also appears in the September-October issue of Safe to Work.