New South Wales Consolidated Acts

MINE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2004 - SECT 3

3 Definitions

(1) In this Act:
"abandoned mine" includes a discontinued mine, a closed mine (other than a suspended mine) and a former mine.
"authorised representative", in relation to an industrial organisation of employees, means a person who is an authorised industrial officer within the meaning of Part 7 (Entry and inspection by officers of industrial organisations) of Chapter 5 of the Industrial Relations Act 1996 in relation to that industrial organisation of employees.
"Board" means the Metalliferous Mines and Extractive Industries Competence Board constituted by section 112.
"Board of Inquiry" means a Board of Inquiry constituted under section 95.
"certificate of competence" means a certificate granted under section 118 that is in force.
"Chief Inspector" means the person appointed as Chief Inspector under section 127.
"coal" includes oil shale and kerosene shale, but does not include peat.
"competent" means having appropriate experience, knowledge, skills and capabilities.
"contractor", in relation to a mine, means a person who is not an employee at a mine, who undertakes work at the mine, but does not include the operator of the mine.
"contractor management plan" for a mine means a contractor management plan prepared for the mine under section 37.
"Department" means the Department of Industry and Investment.
"direction" includes any instruction, order or requirement authorised by this Act to be given or made by the Minister or an inspector.
"Director-General" means the Director-General of the Department.
"emergency plan" for a mine means an emergency plan prepared for the mine under section 42.
"employee" means an individual who works under a contract of employment or apprenticeship or, subject to the regulations, under some other arrangement whereby the individual expects to receive something of value for the individual’s work, being a share of, or payment out of proceeds from the sale of, a mineral recovered or a payment dependent on the recovery of a mineral.
"employer" means a person who employs another person under a contract of employment or apprenticeship or, subject to the regulations, enters some other arrangement whereby the person agrees to give another person who is an individual something of value for the other person’s work, being a share of, or payment out of proceeds from the sale of, a mineral recovered or a payment dependent on the recovery of a mineral.
"evidence of competence" means a certificate of competence or other evidence of competence specified by the regulations.
"exercise" a function includes perform a duty.
"function" includes a power, duty and authority.
"government official" means a person appointed under section 127 or 129.
"inspector" means a person appointed as an inspector under section 127.
"investigator" means a person appointed as an investigator under section 127 or 129.
"involved union" means a Federal or State industrial organisation of employees of which a person employed to engage in work at a mine is a member, where that person is qualified to be such a member by virtue of the work that the person performs in the person’s employment at the mine.
"machinery" means any device or item of plant, whether fixed or mobile (however powered), that is used:

(a) to do work at or about a mine, or

(b) for the treatment of any product of a mine.

"management structure" for a mine means the management structure prepared for the mine under section 35.
"mine" -see section 6.
"mine holder" means:

(a) in relation to land subject to a mining title granted under the Mining Act 1992 -the person who holds the title, or

(b) in relation to land subject to a mining licence granted under the Offshore Minerals Act 1999 -the person who holds the licence, or

(c) in relation to any other land-the person with the right to extract minerals or quarry product from the land.

"mine safety management plan" for a mine means a mine safety management plan prepared for the mine under section 27.
"mine safety officer" means a person appointed as a mine safety officer under section 127.
"mineral" means any substance that is for the time being a mineral within the meaning of the Mining Act 1992 or the Offshore Minerals Act 1999 , but does not include coal.
"mining industry code of practice" means a mining industry code of practice under Part 11.
"operator" of a mine means:

(a) the mine holder, if the mine holder nominated himself, herself or itself as the operator of the mine under section 22 and that nomination is not rejected, or

(b) the person nominated by the mine holder as the operator of the mine, and not rejected by the Chief Inspector, under section 22, or

(c) the person declared by the Chief Inspector to be the operator under section 23, or

(d) the person prescribed by, or determined in accordance with, the regulations to be the operator of the mine.

"place of work" means premises where persons work.
"plant" includes any machinery, equipment (including scaffolding), appliance, implement or tool and any component or fitting of, or accessory to, any machinery, equipment, appliance, implement or tool.
"premises" includes any place and in particular includes:

(a) any land, building or part of any building, and

(b) any vehicle, vessel or aircraft, and

(c) any installation on land, on the bed of any waters or floating on any waters, and

(d) any tent or moveable structure.

"previous offender", in relation to the maximum penalty for an offence, means a person who has, at any time before being sentenced for that offence, been convicted of any other offence of any kind against:

(a) this Act, or

(b) the Mines Inspection Act 1901 , or

(c) the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act 2002 , or

(d) the Coal Mines Regulation Act 1982 , or

(d1) the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 , or

(e) the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 , or

(f) the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 .

"quarry product" means conglomerate, sandstone, shale, basalt, andesite, trachyte, porphyry or other rock, or sand, clay, shale, gravel or peat, that is extracted or treated (or is intended to be extracted or treated) for commercial or industrial purposes, but does not include coal.
"recycling operation" means the sorting, grading and preparation of recycled concrete, recycled brick, recycled bitumen, recycled stone or recycled rock to be blended with any quarry product.
"risks" -see section 5.
"site check inspector", in relation to a mine, means a person elected under section 138 as a site check inspector for the mine.
"stop work order" means an order under section 100.
"supervisor" means a person nominated as a supervisor in the management structure for a mine.
"treatment" means:

(a) the crushing, grinding, cutting, classifying, reducing, smelting, concentrating, precipitating or separating of any material that has been extracted from land for the purpose of recovering minerals or quarry product, or

(b) any other process, or part of a process, for recovering minerals or quarry product from material that has been extracted from land.

"underground mine" means a mine in which persons are employed below ground when the mine is being worked.
"vehicle" includes any mechanically driven machine capable of moving under its own power.

(2) Notes included in this Act do not form part of this Act.