March 4, 2024
Global OHS Conference 2024
Over the final week of February, the Mining and Energy Union Queensland District brought together unions, industry experts, and medical professionals from around the world for a forum on occupational lung diseases in the mining and energy industry.
Union safety representatives from around Australia were joined in Cairns by world-leading experts in the fields of mine safety, black lung, silicosis, and other occupational respiratory diseases. International delegates from the US, Indonesian, Mongolian, and Albanian miners’ unions also attended, bringing an international perspective to the discussion.
Building off the improvements made since the Cut the Dust Conference in 2020, the attendees recommended several outcomes aimed at improving the safety standards in mines globally. These include a global respiratory disease working group, to assist unions in developing a best practice for their countries, and recommendations for the development of national campaigns aimed at strengthening workplace rights around safety.
The MEU Queensland District is currently considering hosting another Global OHS Conference in 2027 with the objective of broadening topics to include any other relevant OHS matters.
