Order 34

Overview

The general functions in the Coal Industry Act 2001 (NSW) (s. 10 (1) (i)) is ‘approving training schemes required for a safety management system under the Work Health & Safety (Mines) Act 2013’.

The Government Gazette Number 89 (Friday 6 July 2007) ‘Coal Services Approval of Training Schemes for NSW Coal Mine Operator Health and Safety Management Systems’ (Order 34) was issued to give operators of a coal operation direction on what is required in a training scheme for the health and safety management system. This is referred to as the coal operation’s Training and Competence Management Scheme (TCMS). The maintenance of competence scheme is a requirement to keep the knowledge and skills of individuals who hold a practising certificate to exercise specific statutory functions up-to-date.

Order 34 provides scope for Coal Services to issue ‘Guidelines’ on the required provisions to be included in a TCMS in order for it to be approved. This is referred to as the ‘Order 34 Guideline’.

The Order 34 Guideline is used as the basis for:

• the development of a TCMS by a coal operation
• Coal Services approval of a coal operation’s TCMS, and any revision to the TCMS – this approval is based on meeting the requirements of the ‘Order 34 Guideline’
• criteria for audits conducted by officers of Coal Services of the TCMS and associated training/competency systems and processes at coal operations.

Order 34 Guidelines and Tools

Below are a range of tools to help you utilise the Order 34 Guideline:

2025 Order 34 Audit and Workshop Information

2025 Audits

Based on feedback from operations and the presence of a few standalone CHPPs, the focus of this year’s Order 34 Audits will be on “Training Needs Analysis for CHPPs”.

What does this mean for sites without a CHPP?

Sites without a CHPP will have an online check-in to review the status of previous audit outcomes, provide updates on their operations and seek any required support.

Proposed audits schedule:

More information regarding the booking process and audit format will be provided closer to the scheduled dates.

Order 34 Workshops

Workshops have been scheduled as follows:

• Open Cut – Wednesday, 18 June 2025 at Hunter Valley Mines Rescue
• Underground – Thursday, 19 June 2025 at Newcastle Mines Rescue

If you would like any particular topic to be presented or discussed, please contact us via the form below.

Registration details for these sessions will be sent in April.