The Western Australian Government has announced the appointment of Andrew Chapyn as the State's new Mines Safety Director.

 

The 25-year industry veteran was appointed to the role after his predecessor, Simon Ridge, was promoted to the role of Resources Safety Executive Director.

 

State Mines and Petroleum Minister, Norman Moore, said that Mr Chaplyn was ideally suited for the role, with his history of mining engineering and strong commitment to safe working environments.

 

“Andrew has worked with the department as a regional and district mines inspector for three years and has helped drive resources safety reform in WA through the Reform and Development at Resources Safety (RADARS) strategy,” Mr Moore said.

 

“I am confident Andrew will continue to hold the industry to account, applying the highest standards through risk assessments, investigations, inspections, audits and safety interactions.”

 

Mr Moore said the appointment of Mr Chaplyn is the next step in the State Government's ongoing overhaul of resources safety in the State.

 

“The Government introduced a cost-recovery system to help improve capacity and increased the number of mines inspectors to ensure world best practice regulatory standards for our resources sector,” he said.

 

“The ultimate objective is to establish resilient safety cultures in the sector to help reduce the number and severity of incidents with the aim to reach a ‘zero harm’ goal.  I am pleased to be able to say there has not been a WA mining death for 16 months.

 

“Andrew’s appointment furthers those aims, and I look forward to working with him to implement changes that continue to improve mining safety for years to come.”