Standards and resources for health assessments

In response to the identification of coal workers' pneumoconiosis, a number of standards have been introduced to improve the quality and consistency of health screening for coal mine workers. We have also developed some resources to help employers complete the health assessment form.

Standards

Clinical pathways guideline

The  Mine dust lung disease clinical pathways guideline (PDF, 789KB) documents the recommended process for follow-up investigation of mine and quarry workers with abnormal screening results on respiratory examinations.

X-ray standards

In November 2023, Resources Safety and Health Queensland released the updated Standards for acquiring digital chest radiography images for medical surveillance of Queensland mine and quarry workers (chest X-ray standards) (PDF, 38KB). Changes include:

  • inclusion of respiratory health surveillance for mineral mine and quarry workers under the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Regulation 2017
  • requirement to use digital radiography (DR) imaging equipment
  • removal of information that is only relevant to computed radiography imaging equipment and not for DR imaging equipment
  • additional information on common image quality issues, including example chest X-ray images.

The updated chest X-ray standards apply to all chest X-ray images acquired for mine and quarry workers from 1 January 2024.

Earlier version of X-ray standards

Chest X-ray image quality

High quality chest X-ray imaging and reporting is crucial for detecting issues indicative of mine dust lung diseases. Resources Safety & Health Queensland (RSHQ) has published A practical guide to improving chest X-ray image quality (PDF, 224KB) to provide technical considerations you may consider when looking to improve image quality. The guide contains information for both radiologists and radiographers on addressing noise, contrast, and resolution, along with additional considerations for providers.

TSANZ standards for spirometry

On 31 March 2022, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ), in partnership with RSHQ, released the 2022 Standards for the delivery of spirometry for resource sector workers (PDF, 1MB) and the Standards for spirometry training courses companion document (PDF, 374KB) (2022 Standards).

From 1 March 2023, all spirometry for Queensland mine and quarry workers and spirometry training must be conducted in accordance with the 2022 Standards.

The 2022 Standards

These standards:

2022 TSANZ standards
2017 TSANZ standards

Similar exposure groups (SEGs)

Similar exposure groups (SEGs) are used to identify groups of workers who have the same general exposure to risks.

The SEG information sheet (PDF, 111KB) has guidance on establishing site-specific SEGs, as well as SEG listings you can use for reporting personal respirable dust monitoring data.

Position list for coal mine workers

Coal mine workers' position titles need to be provided by employers when completing the Employer section of the approved health assessment form.

The Standardised coal mine worker position list (PDF, 380KB) has a list of position titles and categories, as well as guidance on how to classify a position.

More information

Read about the Queensland Government's response to mine dust lung disease.