NSW Resources Regulator announces compliance focus areas for the latter half of 2025

NSW Resources Regulator Announces Compliance Focus Areas for the Latter Half of 2025

The NSW Resources Regulator has released its Compliance Priorities for the second half of 2025, defining crucial compliance goals for the upcoming six months. These priorities target improved safety management and sustainable operational practices across the mining industry in NSW.

This follows on from the regulator's earlier key compliance objectives released for the first half of 2025, continuing a consistent approach to risk management within the sector.

Key Compliance Priorities for July–December 2025

Compliance priorities set for July through December 2025 involve addressing hazards posed by conveyor fires in underground coal mines, along with provision of underground emergency egress points.

These focus areas reflect ongoing concerns around fire management, ventilation control, and emergency preparedness planning within underground operations. Effective management plans covering personnel training and emergency response remain central to reducing risk exposure in these environments.

Entanglement Risk Management and Principal Hazard Controls

The Regulator said it will "focus on management of entanglement risks with rotating parts, principal hazard management plans and principal control plans for quarries."

This priority highlights the need for robust equipment guarding, routine maintenance scheduling, and strict adherence to documented control measures. Operators should ensure their equipment maintenance procedures align with current hazard management requirements to minimise entanglement incidents.

Why These Priorities Matter for Safety Professionals

For safety professionals working across mining and resources industry sectors, these focus areas signal where regulatory attention, and enforcement activity, will concentrate over coming months.

Strong hazard management frameworks, clearly documented principal control plans, and proactive risk assessment practices support compliance and protect worker safety outcomes. Organisations should review existing management systems now, well ahead of any regulatory engagement, to confirm alignment with these stated priorities.

• Review conveyor fire management arrangements for underground coal mine operations
• Confirm underground emergency egress provisions meet current requirements
• Audit rotating equipment guarding and entanglement risk controls
• Update principal hazard management plans and principal control plans for quarry sites

Supporting Consistent Compliance Across the Sector

This latest release builds on a consistent pattern of regulatory guidance, including priorities outlined for January to June 2024 and earlier priorities set for the first half of 2023. Tracking these recurring themes helps operators anticipate where compliance management efforts should focus each cycle.

Maintaining strong safety performance across NSW sites depends on continuous improvement, not just reactive compliance. Businesses operating within Australia's resources sector should treat these regulatory statements as a baseline for internal management review, rather than a checklist to satisfy only when inspectors are due.

Well-documented job safety analysis templates can support teams identifying task-specific hazards linked to these priority areas, particularly around rotating equipment and underground emergency procedures.

Read more here.