Case Study - Anglocoal

Capcoal EMS and OHS work

Challenge:

To achieve certification of the German Creek Coal Mine to the ISO 14001 international environmental management systems standard.  The EMS needed to be flexible so that it could incorporate proposed mine expansions and additional operations as necessary.

Strategy:

An initial Gap Analysis was carried out by Graham A Brown & Associates against the requirements of ISO 14001, and recommendations made for achievement of the standard.  An Action Plan was created to implement the recommendations, a timetable was developed to achieve certification, and Capcoal appointed a full-time EMS Coordinator to implement the EMS.  A Graham A Brown & Associates Mentor was appointed, who made regular visits to the mine site to mentor the EMS Coordinator and continually review progress towards certification.  Additional time was built into the budget to provide contact days for the EMS Coordinator to receive advice from ourstaff and assistance with the drafting, editing and review of EMS documentation.

Results:

Capcoal was successfully certified to ISO 14001 by an independent certification body and certification has been maintained.

Follow-up:

We have assisted Capcoal on a continuing basis with EMS audits, provision of regulatory compliance software and advice, internal auditor and EMS training, and assistance with certification of the Foxleigh mine to ISO 14001.  In addition, Graham A Brown & Associates mentored Capcoal for the implementation of a Safety Management System (SMS) to meet certification requirements of AS/NZS 4801, the Australian and New Zealand standard for safety management systems.  This project followed a similar pattern to the EMS mentoring with regular visits to site by the SMS Mentor, contact time between visits, and training programs on safety and SMS.  We developed an SMS implementation plan and rewrote the existing SMS documentation to conform with the standard and the Anglo Coal (owner of Capcoal) internal SHECMS (Safety, Health, Environment and Community Management System).  The SMS was successfully certified by an independent certification body.  Graham A Brown & Associates also provided assistance to other Anglo Coal facilities including Head Office in Brisbane, Callide Coal and Moura Coal mines in Queensland, and Dartbrook and Drayton coal mines in NSW.