Interviews with key informants

Interviews were undertaken with 24 people including: SSHRs, most of whom worked in the mines listed in Table 4.1; current and former ISHRs; and a very senior mines inspector (Table 4.4).

Table 4.4: Project interviewees

Interviewee Number

SSHR at mine included in the documentary analysis

14

SSHR at other mine 4

Current ISHR 3

Former ISHR and current CFMEU District President

1 Former ISHR and current

CFMEU District Secretary

1

Senior mines inspector 1

Total 24

Interviews were conducted either in between training sessions while the representatives were attending training organised by the CFMEU in June 2013, or at the district offices of the CFMEU in two separate districts during August 2013. Each interview lasted for approximately one to one and a half hours and they were all recorded and subsequently transcribed. All the interviews were undertaken following procedures approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the School of Social Science at Cardiff University. The content of the interviews has been anonymised as far is possible in this report in accordance with the University’s ethics procedures.

The interviews sought to elicit further information concerning the activities of the representatives such as those outlined in Table 4.3. That is, for both the ISHRs and the SSHRs, they aimed to achieve a sense of:

1. the different ways in which the SSHRs conducted their OHS activities;

2. what they spent most of their time doing (and how much of their time they spent doing it);

3. the extent to which they were doing what the legislation prescribed they should do (and the extent to which they do something else), and how they situated their activities in relation to the

legislation, what they perceived to represent ‘best practice’ and how they went about meeting this standard; 4. whether representatives brought a

particular skill set to their role on health and safety in mines;

5. how they perceived themselves to be supported by the inspectorate, the union, and their relationship with management (levels of co-operation they experienced, what they regarded as barriers to their activities etc.);

6. the constraints and obstacles they faced in carrying out their roles; and

7. what they thought would improve their effectiveness and the support for it in the mines.

We were also interested in exploring how the two types of representatives saw the nature of the relationship between each other — how SSHRs perceived the role of the ISHR in relation to themselves, the kinds of support they received, how they valued and used this support, and how important they believed it to be in achieving the effective delivery of their own roles. In turn, in the interviews with the ISHRs, as well as inquiring about the ways in which they undertook the activities identified in Table 4.3 and their responses to the questions in 1 to 7 above, we were also interested in how they prioritised and undertook supporting the work of the SSHRs, how they deployed their rights and functions under the regulatory provisions in their own inspection and investigative work in relation to the mines they covered and the extent to which they engaged with wider consultative activities in OHS regulation in coal mining in Queensland. In both cases we were further interested in how the representatives defined what constituted health and safety issues on which they could legitimately represent miners’ interests, how they perceived the boundaries of such issues in relation to more general labour relations matters and what, if any, were the strategies they adopted for resolving any conflicts that might arise in these matters. Transcripts of the interviews allowed identification and exploration of themes reflecting the above. Themes for both ISHRs and SSHRs included: their perceptions of their role in injury and ill-health prevention; activities, perceived outcomes,

34 balance of activities (i.e. relations with workers and managers, support for SSHRs, relations with sub-contractors, work with the industry more generally, input to government policy and liaison with inspectorate); the role of the regulatory provisions in determining activities — using statutory powers as the basis for representation; safety versus industrial issues; supports and constraints; challenges, perceived needs (what would make things better); how SSHRs valued support from ISHRs (and other sources of support – from the union, inspectorate, employer and elsewhere) and vice versa; time off for SSHRs to undertake functions, receive training etc., the

role of training; facilities for representatives that were available at mines; and relations with the inspectorate. Copies of the interview schedules, participant information sheets, consent forms etc. can be found in the Annexe.

The interview with the senior mines inspector essentially followed the same structure and was based on a dialogue on the same issues as those with the representatives – with the difference that it was the perspectives of this individual concerning the activities of representatives, their rights and functions and the contexts in which they operated that were its main focus.

35

5

The practice of worker representation on health and

safety in Queensland coal mines: OHS management

systems, communications and supports

In this and the following chapter we consider the main activities of ISHRs and SSHRs based on analysis of both documentary evidence from nearly half of the coal mines in Queensland and interviews with a sample of the representatives themselves. We explore what they do, their perceptions of their effectiveness and the supports and barriers to its achievement. We also examine the relationship between the two types of representatives, between them and the workers they represent and with the managers, mines’ inspectors and others with whom they interact in undertaking their representative roles. As well as the positive aspects of their role and the supports for it, we discuss some problematic issues in the current construction of the activities and relations of worker representation on health and safety in the context of Queensland coal mines and the wider environment in which they are set. We look at the role, activities and relations of the ISHRs by considering their own testimony alongside that of the SSHRs for whom they provide support. In this chapter we begin with a brief profile of the representatives themselves, both SSHRs and ISHRs, which conveys a sense of who they are and what are their motivations for undertaking the role. In the light of the statutory provisions, we then turn to the involvement of the representatives in the overall system for safety and health management in coal mines. We then examine communications between the representatives and workers, managers and inspectors during inspections. Finally, we examine the support the