Mining & Resources · Australia
Crews work 12-hour rotating shifts, nights and FIFO or DIDO rosters, then often drive long distances home. Fatigue around heavy mobile plant and processing hazards can be fatal.
Varies by jurisdiction: Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory – Safety-critical
Reg Watch
Regulatory change that affects how you manage fatigue in mining & resources: what has changed in the last 12 months, and what is on the way.
Recent changeFrom 1 January 2026
Specific to mining & resources
From 1 January 2026 NSW coal mine workers need a health assessment before starting and at least every three years, now including the STOP-Bang sleep apnoea questionnaire (Coal Services Order No. 45).
Read the changeUpcoming changeNo date set yet
Safe Work Australia's Best Practice Review of the model WHS laws was due to go to WHS ministers in August 2026. It is not yet public and no amendments are proposed, so no change date is set.
Regulatory changes checked as at 1 October 2026.
Regulation
Mining runs a dedicated safety regime alongside general work health and safety law, and fatigue is named in it. NSW and WA mine operators each carry an express regulatory duty to manage risks associated with worker fatigue. Queensland works differently: the mining Acts require risk to be held at an acceptable level through the safety and health management system, and the familiar fatigue numbers come from a 2013 guidance note that states on its face that it is not a guideline under the Act. NSW coal has gone furthest of all.
Queensland's Resources Safety & Health Queensland, Western Australia's WorkSafe WA/DMIRS, and the NSW Resources Regulator - the dedicated mine safety regulators in each major resources state - alongside Australia's general workplace safety regulators.
In NSW and WA the mines regulations place an express duty on the mine operator to manage risks to health and safety associated with worker fatigue, and in NSW the site health control plan must set out how workers are kept fit to carry out work. In Queensland the duty runs through the safety and health management system and the requirement to hold risk at an acceptable level, and a worker must be in a fit condition to work. From 1 January 2026 every NSW coal mine worker needs a health assessment at least every three years that includes the STOP-Bang sleep apnoea questionnaire.
Mine safety regulators enforce directly: directives and improvement notices, prohibition of unsafe work, suspension of an operation, and prosecution under mining safety law alongside general work health and safety law. Queensland, NSW and WA all carry industrial manslaughter offences reaching the company and its officers personally. Civil liability is separate and has already bitten. In Kerle the Supreme Court of Queensland held a mine operator, its host employer and a labour hire agency all liable for a fatigue crash on the drive home.
Work health and safety maxima at 1 July 2026 levels: Category 1 body corporate $11,606,824 (NSW), $3,500,000 (WA), $3,000,000 (Qld). Industrial manslaughter carries twenty to twenty-five years for an individual in every jurisdiction. Kerle was resolved on agreed damages of $1.25 million.
Sources: Queensland's mining safety Acts and guidance note QGN 16; the NSW Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation and Safety Bulletin SB23-07; WA's Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations; and Kerle v BM Alliance Coal Operations [2016] QSC 304.
Fatigue-critical roles
The roles where a fatigued worker is most likely to cause serious harm, the tasks that carry the risk, and why fatigue builds up in them.
| Role | Risk | High-risk tasks | Why fatigue builds |
|---|---|---|---|
Haul truck operatorRules
| Critical risk | Driving a 200-300 t haul truck through the 02:00-06:00 window; ramp descents, dumping at crest/edge, intersections with light vehicles; monotony between loads | 12 h day/night rotations, 4+ consecutive nights, FIFO/DIDO swings (e.g. 8/6, 14/7) and a long drive home after the last night |
Underground loader (bogger) operator / continuous miner operatorRules
| Critical risk | Operating loaders (LHD/bogger), continuous miners or shuttle cars in confined headings; tele-remote bogging at the stope brow; vehicle-pedestrian interaction in low light | 12 h rotating day/night underground with no daylight cues, heat, FIFO swings, long travel in and out of the decline |
Winder driverRules
| Critical risk | Driving the shaft winder carrying people and rock; signalling, speed and overwind control; long low-stimulus monitoring through the night | 8-12 h shifts incl. nights, long low-stimulus monitoring, often alone in the winder house |
Deputy (underground coal) / open cut examiner (OCE)Rules
| Critical risk | Pre-shift and in-shift inspection for gas, ground and ventilation; deciding whether crews may enter; gas testing and reporting at the end of a night shift | 12 h rotating shifts with inspections timed at the start of each shift, including the 04:00-06:00 low |
ShotfirerRules
| High risk | Charging and tying-in blast holes, misfire handling, clearing and guarding the blast area, firing near shift change; re-entry decisions after the blast | Blasting at shift change or end of night shift, time pressure to fire on schedule, 12 h rotations |
Remote operations centre (ROC) controller / autonomous haulage controllerRules
| High risk | Monitoring autonomous haul fleets and gas/ventilation telemetry overnight; isolating and recovering autonomous trucks; coordinating emergency response | 12 h night shifts on screens in remote operations centres, low stimulation and high vigilance demand |
Maintenance fitter / mine electricianRules
| High risk | Isolation and lock-out of HV and mobile plant, work under raised loads, haul truck tyre changes, conveyor repairs during night shutdowns | 12 h rotating shifts, night shutdowns and call-outs, overtime during planned shutdowns |
DIDO (drive-in drive-out) workerRules
| High risk | Driving 1-4 h home or to the airport after the final 12 h night shift; driving light vehicles on unsealed mine roads at shift change | Drive-out on the last day of a swing after consecutive night shifts, often with sleep debt carried over |
Stories
Published findings and prosecutions from regulators, courts and investigators in Australia.
Story 1 of 19
How the suite fits
Grades describe how strongly a product connects to an obligation. None discharges an obligation, and none carries a compliance warranty.
Coal Services Order No. 45 (in force 1 Jan 2026) names the STOP-Bang questionnaire (Sch 1 item 23) for every NSW coal mine worker, before starting work and at least every three years. Sleepfit administers STOP-Bang. Order 45 also names the K10 and AUDIT, which Sleepfit does not run. It screens; diagnosis stays with your clinicians.
About SleepfitQueensland's mining Acts require workers to be fit for work, and NSW and WA mine rules require operators to manage fitness for work and fatigue risk; no Australian rule names a check. Fatiguefit4Duty supports all three. A fitness-for-duty check, not a fitness-for-duty decision - the duty call stays with you.
About Fatiguefit4DutyMine training duties do not name fatigue as a subject; Queensland and NSW fatigue guidance does. Awareness eLearning supplies fatigue and sleep content with a completion record across your nominated cohort.
About Awareness eLearningMining safety law requires incidents to be notified and investigated, and names no fatigue review. Was It Fatigue? supports your investigation with a structured account of the worker's sleep. A structured judgement aid, not a determination of cause.
About Was It Fatigue?No mining rule in Australia reaches sleep in new-parent households. This is a workforce decision, and it supports the same fatigue evidence base your fatigue risk management already rests on.
About SleepWellBabyRecommended bundle
Every bundle is priced on prevalence: your whole cohort gets access, and you pay for the share predicted to need each product. How pricing works.
Proactive fatigue risk: assess, manage and train, with sleep screening underneath.
Assess, manage, investigate: from the Census to the point of duty to the post-incident review.
Why this pairing in Australia
Coal Services Order 45 names STOP-Bang for NSW coal mine workers, and Sleepfit administers it. Fatiguefit4Duty supports the fitness-for-work controls Queensland and NSW mining law requires; Awareness eLearning trains with a record. Fatigue Lifecycle adds Was It Fatigue?
Tell us roughly how many people you employ. Your snapshot models how many are likely sleeping poorly and what it costs, from published research for mining & resources. Then choose who you’d cover, and we’ll take you to the right next step.
