Report on the activities of mining authorities in 2021

The "Report on the Activities of the Mining Authorities in 2021" has been published on the website of the State Mining Authority. It is an important annual summary of the achievements of mining supervision. The document presents, among others: administrative, control, repressive, legislative, information and publishing activities of the mining offices.

2021 was another year marked by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. So we still had to apply a number of regulations and restrictions in our daily work to ensure the sanitary safety necessary to carry out professional activities in various areas. However, this did not prevent the ongoing monitoring and checking of the anti-covid activities carried out in mining companies as part of their control activities, as well as compliance with current legislation and the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, medical experts and sanitary services.

The pandemic did not interrupt, because it could not interrupt, work on the draft amendment to the Geological and Mining Act, in which the State Mining Authority is actively involved. We have put forward proposals for solutions that would improve and tidy up the legal situation and contribute to strengthening environmental protection, improving public safety and the safety of workers in the mining and geological industry and other persons involved in activities subject to the provisions of the Geological and Mining Law, as well as streamlining the activities of mining supervisory authorities.

In Jubilee 2022, we will consistently return to all unfinished business that has a real impact on improving the safety performance of crews in the mining industry and is therefore a priority for us. The issues of verification of the rules on mining qualifications, the qualifications of experts on mining plant movements and training in mining and activities carried out without a licence or without an approved (or notifiable) geological work project remain particularly relevant.

We will invariably and systematically strive to improve occupational safety in mining, relying on active cooperation with the supervisory authority, entrepreneurs and experts. Such an alliance will certainly provide tangible benefits and allow us to find effective solutions to improve the safety situation in the mining industry. Our primary objective, which has not changed for many years, is to reduce the number of mining accidents, both those caused by human error and those resulting from natural and technical causes.

The report also contains information on accidents in mining and a description of the activities of the commissions appointed by the President of the State Mining Authority. The study is available on the website of the State Mining Authority: www.wug.gov.pl/o_nas/sprawozdania_z_dzialalnosci