While the main focus of safety in mining is ensuring workers return home safe to their family every day, there is a renewed effort to bring awareness to the industry about what support is available if a fatality does occur.
Preliminary statistics recorded by Safe Work Australia show that as of 29 May 2025, 43 workers have been killed at work across all sectors in Australia.
The mining industry recorded an average of seven fatalities each year between 2019 and 2023. But last year the industry reported 11 fatalities.
Safe Work Australia’s preliminary statistics show one mining death so far for 2025. However, the organisation notes that preliminary data often comes from initial media reports and is usually less than the number of finalised fatalities.
“While injury and fatality rates have fallen significantly over the last decade, the people and the stories behind these numbers remind us not to be complacent,” Safe Work Australia says.
“No job should be unsafe, and no workplace death or injury is acceptable.”
But while the industry is aware of the large amount of resources available to try and prevent these accidents from happening, the awareness around the support and resources available in the event a fatality does occur is significantly less among emerging miners.
The drive to increase awareness around these types of services led Miners’ Promise to partner with Acting Consulting Training (ACT) Australia to create a live interactive play exploring the complexities of grief for those impacted by a workplace fatality in the mining industry.
Miners’ Promise is a charity formed in 2010 providing care, guidance, trauma-informed grief counselling, practical assistance and financial support for bereaved mining and resources families.
ACT Australia Managing Director Susan Fleming tells Mining.com.au that while the more established and larger miners are aware these services exist, some of the newer, emerging miners are not as aware.
ACT Australia delivers storytelling through theatre and film performances to inspire the creation of safer working environments. The company brings actual incidents and imagined scenarios to the stage, with actors portraying workers facing high-risk situations.
This new production, titled ‘The Gift’, explores the lives of three main characters, their grief and how such a tragic event can affect these people in different ways.
“One of the most difficult things to engage people on is safety, number one, but to engage people to talk about the prospect of a fatality is really difficult,” Fleming explains.
The Gift is written by Andy Harmsen, directed by Emily Maclean and produced by Fleming, the same team that delivered ‘The Slip: What Good Looks Like’ – a production about the lessons learned from the single largest mine landslide in history, occurring at Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah in April 2013.
This new production is designed to demonstrate the importance of Miners’ Promise in ensuring grieving individuals receive the support they require throughout their healing process and beyond.
In The Gift, the value of Miners’ Promise is demonstrated through the off-stage character of the Family Support Officer, who provides aid to the three grieving characters in various ways.
Helen Fitzroy established the not-for-profit Miners’ Promise in 2010, with co-founder Ian Fletcher, following the death of her husband in an underground mining accident.
Faced with the reality of raising three children under the age of seven alone and a sudden loss of income, Fitzroy set out to reshape mine safety standards and change the way the resources industry responds to crisis.
“I saw people crying out for basic information on process, legal advice, access to support services, and often just emotional support when they had no one to talk to,” she says. “I saw people crumbling under the weight of emotional, legal, financial and bureaucratic challenges that would plague them for months after the event.”
After being approached by Miners’ Promise to create a play to raise awareness about these support services, ACT Australia spent time researching and interviewing people who had faced similar situations.
ACT Australia says the existence of Miners’ Promise is crucial in an industry that sees multiple casualties each year.
“So much of the work that we do goes into the research and making sure that we are able to speak the language that’s correct, that resonates with the audience,” Fleming says.
“Unless it happens to you, you have no idea what the need is.
“The writer has developed a story told through the eyes of three main characters. None of them are the bereaved, and none of them are the actual Miner’s Promise liaison. We’re hearing it from three voices who are representative of the voices in the audience – us.”
Fleming hopes the production will provide people with an increased understanding of the complexities in the needs of the bereaved families, how long the unravelling of the process of grief, grieving, and loss post-fatality is, as well as how long and how much support is required for those things.
The production will be presented for the first time at the Future of Mining conference in Perth on 1 July, from 4-5pm at the Crown Theatre. Registrations are limited to 50 people.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ACT Australia
