We will always have a plan
We will always have a plan
The role of a coal mine supervisor has changed. Supervisors now carry greater responsibility for statutory compliance, workforce safety and the control of principal hazards. Yet the training standards used to prepare them have not kept pace with the demands of the role.
Queensland expanded what coal supervisors are accountable for, but S123 was never written for the job they are now doing. The University of Queensland has since named the two things the national units miss: the statutory side of supervision, and the supervisor’s part in critical controls and principal hazards. It said consideration should be given to establishing a Queensland-specific unit of competency to cover them. That unit does not exist yet. MOS training already covers both gaps, and it is already on operating Queensland mines today.
What supervisors got, compared with everyone else
The Resources Safety and Health Legislation Amendment Act 2024 tightened the framework around Queensland’s safety-critical roles and expanded what supervisors are expected to do. The statutory roles got a practising certificate and a requirement to stay current. Supervisors got the duties written down. They did not get the same backing.
| Supervisors | Deputies, OCEs, mine managers |
|---|---|
| Competency S123 – a two-day committee-recognised competency cluster | Competency Certificate of competency, issued by the Board of Examiners |
| Registration No practising certificate | Registration |
| Staying current Five-year S123 refresh only | Staying current |
| Queensland statutory duties Not covered by S123 | Queensland statutory duties Covered by the certificate pathway |
| Critical controls and principal hazards Not covered by S123 | Critical controls and principal hazards Covered by the certificate pathway |
In 32 of 47 Queensland mining fatalities the work required supervision. In 25 of those, supervision was inadequate or absent.
Brady Review of fatalities in Queensland mines and quarries, 2000–2019.
More on how the supervisor’s job has changed, and what the research found, in our write-up of the August conference.
Nine things supervisors need to be trained in
The Commissioner commissioned the University of Queensland, on behalf of Queensland’s two mining safety advisory committees, to establish what supervisors need to be trained in. The project analysed 56 supervisor position descriptions alongside a survey, a workshop and interviews. UQ presented the findings in August 2026, and nine training needs came out of it.
Every one of the nine is already covered by our online training courses.
Covered by the Underground Coal Mine Supervisor, Leading the Shift and Coaching Conversations for Leaders courses
Covered by the Leading the Shift and Coaching Conversations for Leaders courses
Covered by the Leading the Shift and Underground Coal Mine Supervisor courses
Covered by the Underground Coal Mine Supervisor, Atmospheric Monitoring and Strata Management courses
Covered by the Underground Coal Mine Supervisor course
Covered by the Underground Coal Mine Supervisor course
Covered by the Underground Coal Mine Supervisor course
Covered by the Emergency Response course
Covered by the Root Cause Analysis course
In 32 of 47 Queensland mining fatalities the work required supervision. In 25 of those, supervision was inadequate or absent.
Brady Review of fatalities in Queensland mines and quarries, 2000–2019.
Matt Way, Co-Founder and Director of Mapped Out Solutions, went through the full research and the other conference sessions. Read what he took from it – the numbers behind the nine needs, and where the national units fall short.
What we’ve built to cover it
Seven courses in total. Five are written specifically for underground coal supervision and form the Supervisor Package. Two more cover people leadership, consultation and incident investigation, and they work for supervisors anywhere. All are delivered online through your own learning system. Take the package, or take individual courses.
The Supervisor Package
Five courses, one supervisor
The five courses an underground coal supervisor needs, currently in delivery at major Queensland operations.
The five-course package covers seven of the nine training needs in full, and people leadership and consultation in part. Coaching Conversations and Root Cause Analysis complete those last two.
Underground Coal Mine Supervisor
The legal framework, personal obligations, duties under the Regulation, the SHMS and critical controls, reporting and record keeping, industrial manslaughter, Brady Review lessons and psychosocial hazards.
Emergency Response
Preparation and recognising an incident, through first response, isolating a scene, communications, escalation and what happens afterwards.
Leading the Shift
UQ asked whether supervisor leadership and experience should be set by the committees or by companies. This is the answer a site can act on now: pre-starts, handovers, short interval control, capturing actions and being visible on the floor.
Atmospheric Monitoring
Ventilation, gas detection, the hazards that come with changing underground conditions, and the decisions a supervisor makes when things move.
Strata Management
Geology, ground behaviour, support, monitoring, and how ground failure presents underground.
Take all five as the Supervisor Package
Also available
These two are not underground-specific. They work for supervisors and frontline leaders anywhere. The five-course package covers seven of the nine needs in full. These two finish the other two.
Coaching Conversations for Leaders
Better performance conversations, asking better questions, listening properly, and holding people to account without losing them. Completes people leadership and consultation.
Root Cause Analysis
Investigating incidents and critical control failures: evidence, timelines, causal analysis, and corrective actions that stop the same thing happening again. Completes incident investigations.
Ask it here and one of the team will come back to you. No call needed, and you won’t go on a mailing list.
Already on operating mines
This training is in delivery at multiple major Queensland coal sites. It was written by people who have held the tickets and done the job, and it was already in delivery before UQ presented on 18 August.
Courses can be branded to site and set against your own procedures and hazard-management documents.
Currently in delivery at multiple major Queensland coal sites, running through each site’s existing learning system.
This was not mapped to a slide deck after the event. It was already on operating mines when UQ presented its findings.
Content alignment only. MOS content is mapped to the nine training needs and to the four RII units the project confirmed. Investigations was flagged as a likely fifth. Formal alignment is in progress with a registered training organisation. S123 remains the recognised supervisor competency. This training sits around it, not in place of it. It is not the Queensland-specific unit UQ recommended, and it is not an accreditation claim.
Start with 30 minutes
Book a mapping session and we will go through your own supervisor appointments against the nine training needs, and show you where the gaps sit.
Why not just wait for the new unit?
Because no dates have been published for it, and your duty to appoint competent supervisors applies right now. Train against the nine needs now, and your supervisors are working to what the job has become in the meantime.