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The last 3 months has been a challenging time where new ways of working have been developed that have allowed QMRS to maintain all essential activities only to have the tragedy of losing a mate and colleague challenge all of us even further. 

The resilience and support of QMRS personal for each other has been essential over this period.  Whilst we continue to cope, we look forward to better days ahead.
 
My thanks to all.

David Carey
CEO QMRS
Operations General Manager - Tim Jackson

The last quarter was very trying for the underground coal mining community and the QMRS family.  The Grosvenor mine event has shaken us all and our thoughts are with the affected families.

The sudden passing of our dear mate Ramsay has left us all with heavy hearts and he will be missed, however, we must all keep going on.

It was good to see QMRS personnel undertaking refresher training and upskilling in areas such as first aid, risk management, virtual reality and training & assessing.  We all need to keep on top of our skills training to make sure it is current & relevant to the personnel we are training.

Stay safe & look out for each other.
Tim Jackson
Team Member Representative - Shaun Dando

This past 3 months has been a period that has seen tragedy, courage and challenge.
 
The tragic death of QMRS Business Manager Ramsay Wells in a vehicle accident in early June is an immense loss to his family and QMRS. Ramsay was an individual who was involved with and supported QMRS, emergency services and the mining industry over a long period. His memory and influence will live on in QMRS, as among his many achievements he was particularly involved and instrumental in the purchase of the Boonal land and facility near Blackwater. He was someone who could find a bargain and make a deal, had a story or two to tell and always had a number of tasks on the go. His sense of humour, wit and friendship will be forever missed.  RIP Rambo.
 
On the afternoon of Wednesday May 6th an ignition of Methane on the LW face at Grosvenor Coal Mine resulted in serious injuries to five of my work mates and had a significant effect on many others who were involved. The actions taken by the injured men and all those that responded, transported, treated and accounted for everyone underground was outstanding considering the conditions they faced. Once again in an emergency, Mines Rescue team members past and present were among those on hand to provide first aid and assist with the evacuation of their mates. As has been mentioned many times previously, the skills, knowledge and confidence you gain through your training as a Mines Rescue team member becomes invaluable and can make a significant difference to the outcomes for yourself and others in the response to an emergency. Our thoughts and best wishes are with all of those affected in what will be a long road ahead.
 
I would also like to thank those team members who responded from neighbouring mines to assist during this event. I cannot overstate how reassuring it is to see and deal with Mines Rescue team members who you know are well trained and willing to do whatever is required to assist. Although no teams were required to be deployed due to the successful evacuation of all personnel from underground, the fact is, there were sufficient personnel and equipment available quickly and ready to respond if necessary.  We were incredibly fortunate this event wasn’t even more catastrophic.  The coal mining industry has a significant amount of work to do in the months and years ahead to not only identify and implement changes to prevent incidents such as this occurring, but also to ensure we can improve the information gathering and decision-making process so that if we have a situation where there are lives at risk underground, we are able to respond swiftly, if it is safe to do so.
 
A QMRS Board of Directors meeting was held in early May. This was carried out successfully via a Zoom conference call due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Review and approval of the proposed 2020-2021 budget was completed. It was highlighted and recognised that along with maintaining and improving our service to our member mines, there are also a significant number of high priority tasks and projects planned or in progress that will need to be thoroughly and thoughtfully managed in the year ahead.
 
Several of us have continued with input into the new MIU Virtual Reality training system being developed in conjunction with Gen 4 Coal Services NSW. This is progressing steadily with the current focus on building a working interface between a web-based control panel and virtual GAG 1 engine. Also being included will be a virtual Alerts callout and response.
 
Several experienced team members and QMRS staff were asked to review and provide feedback of the proposed amendments to the Mines Rescue Guidelines during this period.  This is a document which is critical to the way we respond and operate in an emergency event. Hopefully we can continue to improve this so that all the stakeholders who may be required to use it understand its content and intent and are comfortable that it provides the processes to ensure we can respond with an acceptable level of risk.
 
As the industry continues to face challenges on a daily basis, I encourage all team members to maintain their skills, be proactive in your work places and most of all stay safe.

Shaun Dando
QMRS BOD Team Members Representative
Mobile - 0427 529 894
Email – sdando@qmrs.com.au
Risk Manager - Steve Dawe

Workplace Health and Safety
I guess the obvious topic to reflect on is COVID 19 and the impact this pandemic has had on the Australian people both in our working lives and the social impacts of the restrictions put in place by the Government.  For QMRS as an essential service to the Mining Industry, it has been business as usual with the service we offer with some pretty significant changes for our training and administration teams to provide a safe and workable solution to continue to offer training for our Industry’s Mines Rescue capability.  If you’ve heard the saying about Duck’s on the water, this provides a pretty apt description of how things have been managed.  Hopefully from your point of view as an end user, the training has continued with minimal disruption which could only be achieved through the great effort of our staff at the stations adapting and overcoming the challenges that were put in front of them.  QMRS has a COVID 19 Management Plan in place that the staff will assist you to follow whilst attending the stations. We will be closely monitoring the progress Australia makes with handling this pandemic and how we can begin to ease restrictions as business slowly returns to the new normal.  Training services that have been restricted during the height of the pandemic will slowly be re-introduced to the training schedule and communicated out via official means through the CEO to our key stakeholders.

Competitions 2020
As most of you will be aware, all competitions have been postponed until 2021.  All mines who had agreed to host this years’ competitions have committed to hosting next years’ events which will see Oaky North hosting the EK Healy and Aquila Mine hosting the Australian Mines Rescue Competition.   The QMRS Memorial Cup scheduled for 2021 will include teams from Broadmeadow Mine, Carborough Downs Mine, Grasstree Mine, Aquila Mine and Ensham Mine and looks most likely to be conducted at Kestrel Mine.

Steve Dawe (Dawesy)
Surface Training Operations Manager - Mark Freeman

Well, we are at the end of another financial year already and it has been a busy time but it has been overshadowed by the loss of our Business Manager Ramsay Well.  This tragic event is indescribable in regards to how this has affected us and how Ramsay's loss has been devastating from a business but most of all from a personal point of view.  Ramsay was larger than life to say the least but most of all, he cared about people and had “rescue” in his heart.  I think that all of our lives are richer from having him as a friend and a mate.  Our ongoing sympathies go to Ramsay’s wife Linda and their children.

As we start to emerge from the gloom of COVID-19 and return to some semblance of normality, training at sites and the stations is returning to full swing.  The surface training team have been conducting recruit courses around the state at the following locations:
  • Evolution Cracow
  • Meandu Mine
  • New Hope New Acland Mine
  • Anglo Dawson Mine
  • Glencore Oaky Creek Surface Operations
  • Glencore Newlands Operations
I would like to put a focus on skills maintenance training for this newsletter.  When we look at the training of effective ERT members, we sometimes think of recruit training as the most important part of the training experience.  It is vitally important that this training is completed in a structured manner but it is just the beginning of the journey.  The cornerstone of the training is the refreshing/refining of knowledge through the skills maintenance training process.  Effective skills maintenance training gives the team members the following:
  • expands on the knowledge and skills introduced in the recruit training
  • gives depth to the way risks are managed in an emergency response situation through exposure to as close to “real life situations” as we can in a training environment
  • updates in training competencies from ASQA via the RTO
Skills maintenance is also how we display ongoing currency in specific ERT skills.  Training is structured to refresh knowledge and skills through focus on a small part of a course, i.e. road crash rescue, airbags, vertical rescue mechanical advantage.  The session is structured in the following manner:
  • theory on the focus topic
  • practical application of the topic
  • inclusion of the topic into full scale exercises
One of the crucial items for a mine site is the auditability of training.  QMRS in partnership with Performance Training our RTO, have developed our learning management system to allow mines the ability to externally drill down into the individual training sessions and gather information on what was conducted in each session for internal and external audits.

We are also proud to announce that the Certificate V course in Incident Management (Mine Event Management) has been completed and put onto scope.  This course has been refined from our existing training course, can be delivered to the leadership team and form part of an external course.
Heavy vehicle extrication training, ladder slides and ladder hinges conducted at an Ensham ERT training run.

If you would like information on options and dates for training or courses, please contact Mark Freeman on 0419791601 or mfreeman@qmrs.com.au.
Mine Inertisation Unit Operations Manager - Clive Hanrahan

Our ten day MIU Block Release is now running from Monday 21st September through to Friday 2nd October.  Mine sites with nominees have been contacted and placements confirmed.  For further enquiries, contact Carolyn at the Dysart  Rescue Station if needed.

It has been a busy couple of months with training continuing during the COVID restrictions and most people have been attending their training days.

Our foam plants have recently been transported to NSW and various mines in QLD and have been put to multiple uses successfully.

We have the new underground pod still operational in NSW and it has been pumping on and off at a spontaneous combustion event for five weeks now.  It's placed adjacent to the area where foam is required and by all accounts, is performing better than expected.  A foam table is also being used on the surface.  We have one table and foam trailer provided to a mine out of Moranbah with expectations one foam table will still be utilised there for a while yet.
The G.E engine has been tested during June with a two hour run.
Good progress is being made as mentioned by Shaun above on our new MIU VR training program.

RIP Rambo, you will be missed by all at MIU.

Underground Training and Operations Manager - Ray Smith

We have had a very sad month here at QMRS with the passing away of Ramsay Wells. 

Your support and commitment will be greatly missed.  RIP mate from all of us here in training.

Underground Training

We find ourselves half way through 2020 already.  With Round 3 complete and Round 4 ready to start at the Blackwater station, our trainers haven't had a chance to breathe - even through the recent COVID pandemic.  

Blackwater have recently completed their second recruit course and subsequently welcomed another nine new team members into the QMRS family.  The Dysart stations second recruit course for the year is to be delivered shortly, commencing the 06th July.

We have had a couple of our team members reach some fantastic milestones -  20 years of voluntary service with QMRS.
Congratulations to Warren Macklin from Broadmeadow Mine and also to Rick Halpin from Grosvenor Mine on their outstanding achievement and dedication.
QMRS would also like to recognise and congratulate the efforts of Richard Cooper of Kestrel, Joe Martorana and Dallas Dorney both of Moranbah North for reaching their 15 year mark.

For additional service milestones of our team members, please visit our QMRS Facebook Page.

Our First Response Course in now formalised and ready to be facilitated.  Keep an eye out for potential minesite date availabilities.  Participants will receive Statement of Attainments for the competencies listed below:

PUAFIR201          Prevent injury
PUAFIR207          Operate breathing apparatus open circuit
UCMSCR303A     Operate self-contained self-rescuer
RIIERR204E         Provide aided rescue to endangered personnel
RIIERR302E         Respond to local emergencies and incidents

Operations
QMRS Guidelines are currently under review again with the successful deployment at Cook Colliery to assist the mine.  QMRS has also had the opportunity in recent times to run through the entry process at North Goonyella.  This was a good venture and some new learnings were observed in a positive manner.
MEMS
June saw the Statement of Attainment issued to Kestrel attendees at a recent course facilitated in Emerald.  The course is accredited to RIIERR501D Implement Underground Coal Emergency Preparedness & Response Systems.  QMRS is planning for the remaining 2020 MEMS courses to be delivered in Mackay post COVID restrictions being lifted.

Capital Projects - Ian Brown

Winder
Work is progressing however is being hampered by component delivery from Europe and worker restrictions due to the pandemic.  Acceptance testing is now schedule for November 2020.

Training Building
Expressions of interest have been sent to several prospective tenderers, four have pre-qualified.

Fire Pad
The effluent sump and hand rails are now completed and the oil water separator is on site.  Manifolds have been fabricated and pumps have been purchased also.  The power supply and control boxes have been tendered along with the underground discharge pipework and hydrants.
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Copyright © |2020|Queensland Mines Rescue Service Limited| All rights reserved.

Our general enquiry email address is:
enquiry@qmrs.com.au

49 Garnham Drive
PO Box 156  Dysart  Qld  4745






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Queensland Mines Rescue Service Limited · 49 Garnham Drive · PO Box 156 · Dysart, Qld 4745 · Australia

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