The mining industry was one of the first to be directly regulated by
legislation in the 19th century when British public opinion was mobilised
by reformers seeking social change. In the next wave of mining safety
legislation, account was taken of technological advances in the industry,
but again, the amendments were in large measure driven by public
expectations following a series of disastrous mining accidents with great
loss of life. The result was the prescriptive and detailed type of regulation
that has, to a great extent, remained with and become a way of life in the
mining industry of today. In 1970, the then British Government appointed Lord Robens, a former
Chairman of the National Coal Board, to head a Committee of Inquiry to
consider the arrangements then in place for preserving the safety and
health of people at work and to consider and make recommendations on
the need for change in the legislation governing such matters. The result
was the 1972 report Safety and Health at Work which, in turn, resulted in
the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (UK). This Act, which
embodied the now familiar concepts of consultation with the workforce
on matters relating to health and safety and the statutory application of the
previously existing Common Law concept of the duty of care, became the
model for much occupational health and safety legislation in many places
around the world, including the various States of Australia. As a result of the `Robens style' of legislation, the regulators of the
mining industry have had the opportunity to become less prescriptive and
to introduce an `enabling' style in their statutes. This has not always been
welcomed by the industry which has, to some extent, missed the comfort
of knowing exactly what is required of it in order to ensure compliance
with the legislation while appreciating the `self-regulatory' opportunities
that the new style of regulation offered.