Employment age for mining operations

The safety and health of employees in Western Australian mines are regulated by the Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 and associated regulations. Inspectors are sometimes asked about the minimum age for employees and others at a mine site. There is no provision in the regulations that prescribe a minimum age for a person to be employed in surface operations at a mine. However, employers need to be aware that there may be minimum age requirements under any applicable industrial award or other legislation, such as that governing education or industrial relations. A useful reference is the Employment of Children Laws factsheet from the Department of Commerce website.

There is a minimum age prescribed in the regulations for some categories of employees. For example:

• an underground employee must not be under 18 years of age unless he or she is an apprentice or a cadet who is working underground in order to gain required experience in the course of training for a profession or trade
• a person handling, charging or firing explosives must not be under 18 years of age
• a person must be at least 21 years old to obtain a winding engine driver’s certificate.

Although no minimum age is specified in the duty of care provisions of the Act, the duty of care is owed to each employee as an individual and there may be a higher duty owed to someone who is young and inexperienced. In general, young people (below 18 years of age) should not be placed in a hazardous environment and should be provided with adequate supervision.

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