Queensland Consolidated Acts

MINING AND QUARRYING SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT 1999 - SECT 44A

44A Obligation of officers of corporations

(1) If a corporation has an obligation under this Act, an officer of the corporation must exercise due diligence to ensure the corporation complies with the obligation.

(2) An officer of a corporation may be convicted or found guilty of an offence under this Act relating to an obligation of the officer whether or not the corporation has been convicted or found guilty of an offence under this Act relating to an obligation of the corporation.

(3) In this section,
"due diligence" includes taking reasonable steps—

(a) to acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of mine safety and health matters; and

(b) to gain an understanding of the nature of operations at a mine and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations; and

(c) to ensure the corporation has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to safety and health from work carried out as part of operations; and

(d) to ensure the corporation has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information; and

(e) to ensure the corporation has, and implements, processes for complying with any obligation of the corporation under this Act; and

(f) to verify the provision and use of the resources and processes mentioned in paragraphs (c) to (e) .

Example for paragraph (f)—

If the corporation is the operator for a mine, verifying the provision and use of the resources and processes to ensure the operator complies with the requirement under section 38 (1) (f) (including, for example, having regard to each report given by the operator in relation to an audit of the effectiveness and implementation of the mine’s safety and health management system).

(4) In this section—

"officer" , of a corporation, does not include a person appointed as, or whose position reports directly or indirectly to, the site senior executive for a mine.