The Coal Mines Emergency Management Taskforce is a prime example of a joined up and community focussed approach to community safety.
Government, agencies, industry and community worked together through the Taskforce to undertake more than 188 initiatives to improve safety in the Latrobe Valley, achieving significant outcomes to ensure the appropriate plans were in place to prevent, prepare for and respond to, any threat of fire in or around Victoria’s coal mines.
Formed in 2014, in response to the Hazelwood Coal Mine Inquiry, the Taskforce was led by Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley and worked with the then-Hazelwood, Loy Yang and Yallourn mines.
The Taskforce was established to examine fire preparedness across Victoria’s four brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley and Surf Coast for the 2014/15 summer period and beyond. While the closure of the Alcoa mine in Anglesea meant the Surf Coast Taskforce was disbanded, the operation of the Latrobe Valley Taskforce was extended past the original terms to September 2016.
Members of the Taskforce included CFA, Latrobe Shire Council, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR), the Victorian WorkCover Authority, Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Emergency Management Victoria (EMV), Victoria Police and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
After more than two years of operation, the Coal Mines Emergency Management Taskforce held its final meeting on 27 September 2016. The final report outlines the journey of the Taskforce and lists the improvements and changes that have taken place.
A few of the major outcomes include:
- The development and introduction of CFA’s new District 27, encompassing the Latrobe City boundaries
- DEDJTR’s implementation of the Mines Emergency Unit, within Earth, Resources and Regulation
- The delivery of two significant exercises in 2015 and 2016 that practiced the integration of broader industry into the emergency services incident management structure and community warnings and messaging
- Improved efficiencies and relationships through a joined up approach adopted by agencies and industry
- Significant risk reduction and fire suppression improvements in the mines and
- Rehabilitation works within the mines to reduce the areas of exposed coal
VIEW the Coal Mines Emergency Management Taskforce Final Report
The department acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.