Resources Safety and Health Queensland has released its Regulatory Priorities and Outcomes for 2026–27 — and it's a clear signal of where targeted inspectorate campaigns, audits and compliance activity are heading over the coming months.

If you operate a coal mine, mineral mine or quarry, or hold explosives authorities, this is worth a close read.

Whatever the specific topic, a common thread runs through nearly every one of these priorities: the inspectorate will be testing whether your Material Unwanted Events (MUEs) are properly identified, whether your Critical Controls are documented and verifiably effective, and whether your Management Structure — Risk Owners, Control Implementers and Control Monitors — is properly established, delegated, and staffed by demonstrably competent people.

Critical Controls - and your Management Structure - Need Competent People

The Critical Control framework signals that the persistence of mining fatalities is not an unsolvable technical problem, but an organisational execution challenge that improved governance and accountability structures can address. Competence is what converts governance structures from paper obligations into operational reality. A CCM program is only as good as the people executing it at every stage - from the Mine Operator setting the threshold to the frontline worker checking the control in the field.

This is precisely where My Competency Expert excels. The CCM framework is the structure, but competence is the mechanism that determines whether it actually functions. Documented controls with incompetent owners don't prevent MUEs - they just create the appearance of management.