An OCE inspection report template is the structured record an open cut examiner completes when inspecting a surface excavation in Queensland: the area and shift, what was inspected, every hazard found, what was done about it, what is still open for the next shift, and a signature. The law does not prescribe the form. It prescribes the inspection, the handover and the record, and a good template proves all three.
Below is the complete question set, grouped the way an OCE walks a pit, and what the Regulation asks of the inspection. For background, see Queensland OCE report requirements and the comparison of how OCE reports are structured. This page is the practical template.
What the law requires of an OCE inspection
Under section 59 of the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999, the site senior executive must appoint an open cut examiner, holding an OCE certificate of competency and a practising certificate, for each surface mine excavation. The inspection duties themselves sit in Chapter 3, Part 2 of the Regulation.
- Presence (s.104). The site senior executive must ensure that, while mining activities run in or around the excavation, at least one OCE is at the mine and contactable by people working there.
- Responsibility (s.105). The site senior executive must also ensure the OCE’s main responsibility is the safety and health of persons in or around the surface excavation.
- The inspection (s.106). Inspect the excavation and the nearby area where activities are to be or are being carried out, to decide whether the level of risk is acceptable: before activities start, then periodically as the safety and health management system requires.
- Read first (s.106(3)). Before inspecting, read the latest OCE report in the mine record and acknowledge in writing, in the mine record, that you have read it.
- Unacceptable risk (s.107). Make it safe immediately if practicable. If not, notify exposed persons, barricade, stop operations and withdraw people. If it is still not safe at shift end, report it to your immediate supervisor, the OCE inspecting on the next shift, and any operational ROC (remote operating centre) worker whose information was used in the decision.
Section 141 requires a standard operating procedure for workplace safety inspections, including the OCE inspection, and requires the results, including hazards and recommended corrective action, to be made available to coal mine workers. All of these sections are in the current Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017.
Section 68 of the Act then requires inspection reports to be kept in the mine record for at least seven years, so the mine record requirements shape how the finished report is kept.
What the Regulation does not say
The Regulation prescribes no OCE report form and no field list. For an OCE report in Queensland, content is set by your own safety and health management system and section 141 procedure, so the report will be read against that procedure and against one question: does it show risk was assessed, acted on and handed over? The template below is built backwards from sections 106, 107 and 141 for that reason. For how this inspection fits with the other statutory inspections on a Queensland coal site, see statutory inspections at Queensland coal mines. For the wider picture across states and inspection types, start with the guide to mine site inspections in Australia.
How to use this OCE inspection report template
- Walk it in the order you drive it. Reorder the sections to suit your pit, but keep handover first: section 106(3) makes reading the last report a precondition.
- Record the area, not just the tick. Tie every answer to a named location. Every “no” carries what was seen, a photo and the action. Areas not inspected are recorded as such, never left blank.
- Fit it to your hazards. Section 142 requires a surface mine’s safety and health management system to protect people from flammable or toxic gas, including identifying where it might accumulate and testing and recording it, so keep the atmosphere rows wherever gas is credible, and add rows for your own principal hazards and TARPs.
The OCE inspection checklist
The full open cut examiner inspection checklist. The escalation column is a prompt, not a substitute for your site TARPs.
| Check | What good looks like | Escalate if |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Area and shift details | ||
| OCE name, date, shift, start and finish time | Complete, legible, matches the roster | Another OCE is covering an area they have not been briefed on |
| Areas and excavations covered | Each pit, block or strip named; areas not inspected listed as such | An active area is not covered by any OCE this shift |
| Previous OCE report read and acknowledged | Written acknowledgement in the mine record before the inspection starts | Previous report missing or unreadable |
| Open items carried from last shift | Each listed with its current status | An item reported as made safe is found not safe |
| Weather and conditions | Rain, wind, heat, visibility and recent rainfall recorded | Conditions trigger a site TARP |
| 2. Atmosphere (where applicable) | ||
| Gas testing where gas may accumulate | Tested per site procedure, readings and instrument recorded | Any reading at or above the site limit |
| Spontaneous combustion, heating or smoke | No new heating, known areas monitored | New smoke, odour or heating near people or plant |
| Dust and post-blast fume | Visibility adequate, suppression working, fume cleared | Fume present in a work area or on a road |
| 3. Roads and intersections | ||
| Road surface, width and watering | Even, width suits the largest vehicle, no slippery grades | Width below design, or slippery ramp in use |
| Windrows and edge protection | Continuous, correct height for the vehicle class, no gaps | Missing or damaged windrow on a drop |
| Intersections and ramps | Sight lines clear, signage and give way in place, grade as designed | Blind intersection, missing signage, ramp grade altered |
| 4. Benches, highwalls and low walls | ||
| Crest condition | No new cracking, tension cracks mapped and marked | New or widening cracks behind a crest |
| Face and wall condition | Scaled, no loose material overhanging work areas | Loose rock, overhang or bulging above people or plant |
| Toe and catch benches | Catch benches clear and effective, toe not undercut | Fallen material reaching the working area, undercutting |
| Water on or behind walls | No new seepage, pooling or saturation | New seepage, springs or softening at the toe |
| Monitoring status | Slope monitoring online and alarms clear | Monitoring offline or any alarm level reached |
| Standoff and exclusion zones | Delineated, understood by crews, respected | People or plant inside an exclusion zone |
| 5. Spoil, dumps and tip heads | ||
| Tip head edge protection | Berm in place, height suits the trucks using it | Trucks dumping over an edge with no adequate berm |
| Dump crest and face | No cracking, slumping or settlement at the crest | Cracks, slumping or rapid settlement |
| Dump floor and approach | Firm, drained, graded away from the crest | Soft floor, ponding or a grade running towards the edge |
| Truck, dozer and light vehicle interaction at the tip | Clear rules, positive communication, parking controlled | Light vehicles or people in the tipping area |
| 6. Drainage and water | ||
| Pit floor water and sumps | Pumps running, sumps within level | Water encroaching on work areas or roads |
| Drains, bunds and diversions | Clear and effective, no scouring | Blocked drain or damaged diversion ahead of rain |
| Inrush or flooding potential | Old workings and water bodies identified and controlled | Any sign of inrush or unexplained water |
| 7. Lighting | ||
| Lighting at work areas, tip heads and intersections | Working, positioned without glare into operators | Night work area, tip head or intersection unlit |
| 8. Plant and pedestrian interaction | ||
| Light vehicle access to working areas | Controlled, positive communication used | Uncontrolled light vehicle entry to a loading area |
| Pedestrian access and parking | Designated, separated from heavy vehicle routes | Pedestrians exposed to heavy vehicles |
| Other crews near the excavation | Drilling, survey, geotechnical and contractor crews known and controlled | A crew working in or near the excavation that the OCE did not know about |
| Loading and digging units | Bench width and floor suitable, safe loading pattern | Unit working under an unsafe face or on a soft floor |
| 9. Blasting status | ||
| Shots loaded or sleeping | Locations known, guarded, delineated | Loaded shot not delineated or guarded |
| Blast exclusion zones and firing times | Communicated to every crew in the area | A crew unaware of a planned firing |
| Post-blast status | All clear given, area inspected | Suspected misfire or unexplained damage |
| 10. Hazards found and actions taken | ||
| Each hazard: location, description, photo | Specific enough for the next OCE to find it | Hazard cannot be located from the description |
| Action taken and by whom | Made safe, barricaded, or area closed, with times | Unacceptable risk with no barricade and people not withdrawn |
| People notified | Exposed persons and supervisor notified | Anyone exposed not yet told |
| Area status | Each area recorded as open, restricted or closed | Area status unclear to crews |
| 11. Handover and sign-off | ||
| Items not made safe by end of shift | Reported to supervisor, next shift OCE and any ROC worker involved | Handover not made at the end of the shift |
| Report available to workers | Posted or published where crews can read it | Crews starting without access to the report |
| OCE signature and countersignature | Signed and timed; reviewed by the supervisor where required | Report unsigned or signed after the fact |
Dump and wall rows are deliberately short here. For the fuller question sets with TARP descriptors, use the spoil dump inspection checklist and the highwall inspection checklist alongside this one.
Writing the hazard and handover sections well
Sections 10 and 11 carry the legal weight and are the ones most often rushed at shift end.
- Be locatable. “Crack on the highwall” is not a record. “Tension crack, 20 metres long, 3 metres behind the crest above the loading area in the north block, marked with a bunting line” is.
- Finding, decision, action. What you saw, what you decided about the risk, and what you did: the sequence section 107 describes.
- Name who was told, and when. Notification under section 107 is a duty in its own right.
- Close items explicitly. Carried hazards are recorded as open, changed or made safe. Silence reads as unresolved.
The same discipline applies to the supervisor’s shift inspection report, which should link back to the OCE’s.
Where OCE reports go wrong
- No acknowledgement. No record that the previous report was read.
- Ticks with no areas. Every item passed, but nobody can tell where anyone looked.
- Copy forward. Yesterday’s text with today’s date.
- Hazards without actions. A risk recorded with no barricading, withdrawal or notification.
- A verbal handover. The next OCE was told at the go line, but the report is silent. If it is not in the record, it did not happen.
- A report nobody can read. Section 141 wants results available to workers, not sitting in the OCE’s vehicle.
From paper form to a live record
A paper OCE report is a snapshot of a pit that keeps moving. It is written in a vehicle, handed over in a crib room and typed up later, if at all. Its hazards sit in text, so the next OCE has to turn “north block, above the loading area” back into a place.
HazView converts the site’s existing OCE form like for like, then improves it. It runs fully offline in the pit and syncs back in reception. Checklists can be pinned to a location on the map or attached to a specific hazard, every question takes comments and photos, and conditional logic opens an escalation section on a non-conforming answer. Hazards are drawn on the one map every role uses, with area status (open, restricted or closed) visible to the next shift before they reach the pit.
On submit the OCE signs, a countersignature can be required by role, and a PDF record can be emailed to nominated recipients. The site’s forms stay private inside its own deployment, never in a public template library. More in digitising OCE reports and statutory inspections.
See how HazView supports open cut examiners, or book a demo with your own OCE form.
Summary: what each part of the report proves
| Template section | What it evidences | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Previous report read and acknowledged | The pre-inspection duty was met | CMSHR s.106(3) |
| Areas covered, before activities start | The inspection was done at the right time and place | CMSHR s.106(1) and (2) |
| Checks by area | Risk was assessed, not just observed | CMSHR s.106(1) |
| Hazards and actions | Unacceptable risk was made safe, barricaded or withdrawn from | CMSHR s.107 |
| Handover | Unresolved items reached the supervisor and next OCE | CMSHR s.107(5) |
| Report available to workers | Results and corrective actions were shared | CMSHR s.141 |
| Signed and kept | The report is part of the mine record for seven years | CMSHA s.68 |
Related guides
- Mine Site Inspections in Australia: What the Law Requires, What to Check and What a Defensible Record Looks Like
- Statutory Inspections at Queensland Coal Mines: RS06 and the Open Cut Regime
- Spoil and Waste Dump Inspection Checklist, With TARP Levels
- Highwall and Excavated Wall Inspection Checklist for Open Cut Mines
- All Inspections & Checklists guides
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official OCE report form in Queensland?
No. The Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 sets the inspection duties but no form or field list. Each mine sets the content through its own system and section 141 inspection procedure.
How often must an OCE inspect?
Section 106 requires the inspection before activities start in or around the excavation, and then periodically as the mine’s safety and health management system requires. Your site sets the frequency; the report should show it was met.
What must an OCE do before starting the inspection?
Read the latest OCE report in the mine record and acknowledge in writing, in the mine record, that they have read it. Put it at the top of the template.
What happens if a hazard is not made safe by the end of the shift?
Under section 107(5), the OCE reports it at shift end to their immediate supervisor, the next shift OCE, and any operational ROC worker whose information was used. Record each one, with the time, in the handover.
Can I use this as an OCE shift report template?
Yes, and many sites combine the two. Keep the section 106(3) acknowledgement, the section 107 actions and the end-of-shift handover as separate fields, so the statutory inspection record is not lost among production notes.