Topical issues in electrical engineering safety
Revision of Department Programs
Mine Safety Operations electrical engineering strategic plan has been reviewed and the associated programs are currently being finalised after review.
Strategic Plan revisions:
- Layout and information on the planning inputs and context
- Inclusion of the Digging Deeper Platinum Rules
- Inclusion of acceptable risk and credible risk controls within the operational philosophy
- Expansion of the hierarchy of risk controls.
New item
EES001 has been revised. The revisions include:
- The incorporation of ALL relevant OHS Regulation provisions as a result of the legislative changes introduced in September 2008
- The incorporation EES002 "Control and Supervision of Electrical Work" (which has been withdrawn)
- The inclusion of references to International Labour Office, Geneva, "Draft code of practice on safety and health in underground coalmines", doc ref MESHCM/2006
- Incorporation of relevant recommendations from the Mine Safety Operations review of the SAGO disaster report
- Editorial changes.
New item
EES 9.4 Decision sheet Electrical engineering safety Decision sheet 9.4 "Electrical Ex Equipment - Previously approved equipment" has been published. This outlines Mine Safety Operations policy for dealing with approved equipment that is not on the published approvals list which was previously approved.
Exemption and associated list of gas detection and monitoring plant and items
Gazette Notices
A new Gazette Notice on Types of electrical plant used in hazardous zones has been published in the NSW Government Gazette. Click here for more Gazette Notices relating to mine safety.
Explosion-Protected Electrical Plant - revision of approval list
A revised list of approved explosion-protected (Ex) electrical plant is now available.
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Explosion Protected Electrical Apparatus Approvals List - Published 1 February 2012(PDF) | 305kb |
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Explosion Protected Electrical Apparatus Approvals List - Published 1 February 2012 (Excel spreadsheet) |
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Survey of approved explosion-protected electrical apparatus
A survey of approved explosion-protected electrical plant in-use hazardous zones of NSW mines was completed in late 2007. The result of the survey revealed that over 60% of existing approvals are NO LONGER USED in NSW coal mine hazardous zones, these approvals have subsequently been removed from the current list.
The revised list of approved explosion-protected electrical plant is available above for immediate review and is to be used as the list nominated in the Gazette notice "Types of electrical plant used in hazard zones".It would be appropriate to review the approvals list against current plant assets at your mine and notify Paul de Gruchy (paul.degruchy@dpi.nsw.gov.au) of concerns and/or deficiencies in the list.
It should also be noted, it is the Department's objective that all electrical explosion-protected plant used in coal mine hazardous zones have a valid Certificate of Conformity as stipulated in the gazette notice.
The following survey of approved explosion-protected electrical apparatus in-use within a hazardous zone of NSW underground coal workplaces was published mid-2007 and was circulated to end-users, plant hire companies and other interested parties.
The original survey aimed to cull items from the current approvals list that were not being used, thus minimise the impact to the industry, but allowing a concentration of resources for the ongoing supervision of plant that is of importance.
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Survey of in-use approved explosion-protected electrical plant | 24kb |
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NSW DPI approvals survey template | 156kb |
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NSW DPI full database 28 August 2010 | 456kb |
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