Queensland Consolidated Regulations

COAL MINING SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATION 2017 - REG 52

52 Confidentiality of medical record

(1) A person must not disclose to anyone, other than under the Act or this section, the contents of a coal mine worker’s medical record obtained by the person under this division.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—100 penalty units.

(2) An appointed medical adviser may disclose the contents of the medical record to—

(a) the coal mine worker; or

(b) another person with the consent of the coal mine worker.

Example of another person—

the worker’s representative at the mine

(3) The CEO must disclose the contents of the medical record to the coal mine worker if the worker gives the CEO a written request for the record.

(4) The CEO may disclose the contents of the medical record to—

(a) another person with the consent of the coal mine worker; or

(b) a person to the extent the disclosure is necessary to enable the person to carry out all or part of—

(i) an assessment; or

(ii) a review under section 48 or 48A ; or

(c) an appropriately qualified person for approved research; or

(d) an authorised auditor, within the meaning of the Auditor-General Act 2009 , if requested by the authorised auditor under section 47 (1) of that Act.

(5) Despite subsection (4) (a) , the CEO may disclose the contents of the record to a doctor or hospital without the coal mine worker’s consent if—

(a) the doctor or hospital needs to obtain the contents to treat the worker; and

(b) the worker is unable to give the consent.

(6) Subsection (1) is not a safety and health obligation for the Act .

(7) In this section—

"approved research" means research approved by—

(a) a human research ethics committee under the Public Health Act 2005 ; or

(b) an ethics committee established by a university and concerned, wholly or partly, with research involving humans; or

(c) an ethics committee established by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

"coal mine worker" includes a person who has permanently retired from working as a coal mine worker.

"medical record" , of a coal mine worker, means personal medical results or clinical findings obtained from an assessment, or review mentioned in section 48 or 48A , for the worker.