New South Wales Statutory Requirements

Who is the Regulator?

In New South Wales, the NSW Resources Regulator is the state’s work health and safety regulator for mines and petroleum sites, including quarries and extractive operations.

The statutory function of Quarry Manager (for mines in NSW, other than underground mines or coal mines) is to supervise mining operations.  The requirement to exercise the statutory function is the holding of a current practising certificate, which authorises the exercise of the statutory function. 

Quarry Manager Practising Certificate (QMPC) Scheme

The NSW Resources Regulator, in consultation with the Mines and Petroleum Competence Board (the board), has adopted a 3-tiered approach with the following requirements for exercising the quarry manager statutory function:

• Tier-1: quarry manager Practising Certificate attained on basis of holding Certificate of Competence.
• Tier-2: quarry manager Practising Certificate.
• Tier-3: competent person (no practising certificate required).

IQA Education and Membership

The IQA provides training in all categories to support meeting the required CPD hours for a Tier 1 and/or a Tier 2 Quarry Manger, and ensure a T3 Quarry Manager is competent and maintains competency by:

• providing courses, events, seminars and professional development opportunities that cover the required topic areas as prescribed by the NSW Resource Regulator to meet the requirements of practising certificate professional development hours.
• providing a detailed logbook for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 quarries where learners can record activity, track hours, and identify if the rules for engaging in professional development are being met annually.
• providing training to ensure a quarry manager maintains competencies.
• providing guidance on planning CPD across the five-year period and essential topics for professional development to ensure compliance
• providing access to the mandatory Learning from Disasters course (for Quarry Managers at Tier 1 and Tier 2 sites). The IQA is approved by the NSW Resources Regulator to deliver this one-day program. Training Provider number: 0004206.
• providing automatic CPD hours (1 hour) annually for IQA Membership.  Involvement in IQA committees can increase the hours you can claim as CPD.
• maintaining a rolling schedule of all courses. In addition, the IQA can deliver corporate programs of any course specific to a site or organisation.
• providing access to accredited training required for quarry manager certification via Registered Training Organisation (RTO) partnerships.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Hours

Certificate of Competency and Notice holders will be required to complete mandatory CPD hours over a five-year period to maintain their practising certificate. 

Certificate of Competency and Notice Holders	Formal Learning	Informal Learning	TOTAL LEARNING
Tier 1	45 (50%)	45 (50%)	90
Tier 2	30 (66%)	30 (33%)	60

 

Quarry Manager | Tier 3

While no practising certificate is required, the legislation does require that the quarry manager by competent.

As a guide, we recommend the following formal qualifications to ensure competency:

• A Certificate IV in Surface Extraction Operations for lower risk operations, and
• A Diploma in Surface Extraction Operations for higher risk operations
• Plus, a planned program of regular and ongoing continuing professional development aligned to the categories of the IQA competency framework.

Minimum and maximum hours apply for topic areas, types of learning and specific learning activities. Other acceptable types of learning activities and maximum hours applicable are outlined in the guide published by New South Wales regulator.

Recordkeeping

Certificate of Competency holders are required to record all learning activities undertaken and hours in a logbook.  The IQA has developed a logbook for both T1 and T2 quarries to assist in the tracking of CPD hours to comply with the NSW Maintenance of Competence Scheme.  Click here for more details or to purchase.

You should reference evidence documentation in the logbook, in the event of being audited.

Tier-1: Quarry Manager Practising Certificate and Certificate of Competence

Tier-1 quarries will typically be large operations with principal mining hazards (eg. multiple working benches, high walls, benching over 3 metres, drill and blast, complex vehicle operations, large fixed plant for crushing and processing) and sophisticated safety management systems.

Requires a Practising Certificate and Certificate of Competence.  Minimum age to hold a Certificate of Competence is 21 years.

Written exams are required to obtain a Tier 1 Practising Certificate: 

• Paper A Legislation knowledge (2 hours) Closed book, and 
• Paper B Legislation knowledge and application (2 hours) Closed book

For more information visit Apply or Renew a Practising Certificate, and/or review the NSW Resource Regulator Guide to Maintenance of Competence

Experience

Qualification and Professional Development

Min four (4) years' practical experience as follows. A minimum two (2) years being present: At an extraction face during production or development works, or During other mining activities A minimum one (1) year in a supervisory role responsible for control and management of mining operations (other than underground or coal mines), with minimum six (6) month in mining activities at the mine. Three months work involved in the handling and use of explosives AND Nine months practical experience working in an above ground mine or quarry under the control of a certified quarry manager involved in any of the following mining operations: drainage drilling equipment maintenance open cut or quarry production overburden removal plant operation road formation site rehabilitation stockpiling AND Eighteen months practical experience involved in two or more of the following mining operations: Coal mining (limited to three months only) environmental evaluations equipment evaluation quality control & sampling slope stability investigations supervision and safety surveying training tunnelling (limited to a total of 1 year) underground metalliferous mining (limited to a total of 1 year) AND Six months practical experience involved in two or more of the following mining operations: asphalt or concrete products mining engineering geology mine design rehabilitation studies

Bachelor of Mining Engineering OR Rll60120 Advanced Diploma of Metalliferous Mining issued by a registered training organisation (or Rll60115 superseded equivalent) OR Rll50120 Diploma of Surface Operations Management (or Rll50115 superseded equivalent) OR RII60220 - Advanced Diploma of Extractive Industries Management (or RII60220 superseded equivalent) OR The Regulator may also recognise various Bachelor Science / qualifications PLUS RllERR601E Establish and maintain mine emergency preparedness and response systems (or RllERR601D & A – superseded equivalent) Blasting Qualifications RIIBLA401E Manage blasting operations (or equivalent superseded versions)   Mandatory Learning From Disasters course (delivered by the IQA)

Tier-2: Quarry Manager Practising Certificate

For an individual to exercise the statutory function of quarry manager at any tier-2 quarry, they must hold a quarry manager practising certificate with a condition restricting them to all tier-2 quarries.

The Quarry Manager Practising Certificate replaces the Practising Certificate with conditions for specific site - will apply to ALL Tier 2 sites.

A Tier-2 quarry will typically be medium-sized operations, where the principal mining hazards represent a medium risk.

Written and oral exams are required to obtain a Tier 2 Quarry Manager Practising Certificate: 

• Questionnaire attached to application
• The questionnaire is open book.

If application and written exam are successful, an oral exam will then be required.

If blasting takes place on the quarry site, you may be required to complete an explosives questionnaire when applying for a practising certificate.

Experience

CPD Hours

Minimum two (2) years’ experience working in mining operations, including: Six (6) months' experience in a mining operation with similar inherent hazards AND Six (6) months' supervisory experience May include one year’s equivalent experience working in civil works   Blasting If blasting takes place, the experience in personally participating in or managing the loading and firing of production blasts in a surface mine is required.

RII40120 Certificate IV in Surface Extraction Operations (or RII40113 or RII40115 superseded by but equivalent to RII40120) OR Any of the qualifications listed for a Tier 1 Quarry Manager PLUS RIIERR401E Apply and monitor surface operations emergency preparedness and response systems (or RIIERR401D or other equivalent superseded) OR RIIERR503D - Implement emergency preparedness and response systems (or RIIERR503A or other equivalent superseded) OR RIIERR601E Establish and maintain mine emergency preparedness and response systems (or RIIERR601D or other equivalent superseded) Mandatory Learning From Disasters course (delivered by the IQA)

Tier-3: Competent Person

Tier-3 quarries are typically small low-risk quarrying operations who meet the following criteria:

• has five (5) or less workers (full-time equivalent), including the quarry manager and contractors
• does not conduct dredging or blasting (explosives) activities on site
• does not extract more than 30,000 cubic metres of extractive material for sale or reuse per year.

The following qualification criteria applies:

No practising certificate required for an individual to carry out the function of a quarry manager.  However, an operator at a Tier-3 quarry must establish that the person carrying out the statutory function of quarry manager is competent. 

• Note a ‘competent person’ means a person who has acquired thorough training, qualification or experience, the knowledge and skills to carry out the task of supervising mining operations at a mine, other than an underground mine or a coal mine, having regard to the location of the mine, the complexity of the mining operations at the mine and the nature of the material mined.

A competent person must be competent to perform the following functions:

• supervise mining operations at the site, including contractors
• manage WHS risks and their controls at the site
• supervise implementation of a safety management system (SMS), including principal hazards and controls; and
• monitor compliance with the SMS.

Tier 3 Quarry Managers are strongly encouraged to attend IQA education, Regulator and other educational forums on a regular basis.

Risk Profiling Tool

The tier of a quarry is determined by assessing the hazards of the site using a risk profiling tool.

The tool has been developed by the NSW Resources Regulator in consultation with the Mining and Petroleum Competence Board and Industry Representatives.

The Risk Profiling tool enables the user to calculate a mine's hazard burden and help determine the qualification for nomination as the Quarry Manager.

To obtain a copy of the Risk Profiling Tool, please click here.

New South Wales Competency Requirements

There are five areas of competence. A specified number of hours of learning must be completed for each area of competence.

1. Mining and WHS Systems
2. Legislation
3. Emergency Management
4. Leadership and Management
5. General WHS (including a mandatory 8-hour Learning from Mining Disasters course developed by the regulator)

It is compulsory that you:

• complete topics relevant to the statutory functions you are practising in e.g., electrical engineering (refer to 6.2 for further guidance on multiple functions)
• complete learning in all four subjects for the ‘Mining and WHS Systems’ area of competence during the five-year period
• as a minimum, complete the Regulator’s Learning from disasters one-day program (IQA is an Approved Training Provider) OR a minimum 7 hours of other formal learning on the mining disasters topic for the ‘General WHS’ area of competence during the five-year period.

Stay up to date through membership, attending Branch events, subscribe to the New South Wales newsletter, and regularly check the IQA website for available courses.

Please contact the IQA on 02 9484 0577 or [email protected] for more information on courses to meet the mandatory competency requirements in New South Wales.

Tier	Total CPD Hours	Mining & WHS Systems	Legislation, Emergency Management, Leadership & Management	General WHS Topics
T1	90	30	30	30
T2	60	20	20	20