Aurelia Metals has entered a ‘first of its kind’ partnership which will help to strengthen emergency services in regional NSW and halve the time for first respond-ers to reach those in need.
Aurelia has joined with the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and the NSW State Rescue Board to provide road crash rescue assistance through its Hera Mine Emergency Rescue Team (ERT).
The trial is intended to provide a template for future collaboration between the NSW RFS and mining companies.
Last week’s delivery of a road safety vehi-cle to the Hera Mine capped off months of desktop and practical roadside assistance training for the ERT, who are now fully quali-fied first responders for road crash incidents in Far West NSW where Aurelia’s Peak and Hera Mines are located.
RFS District Manager Far West, Craig War-wick was on site last week as ERT members completed their accreditation in Road Crash Rescue and participated in mock exercises.
Mr Warwick spoke about the Volunteer Supportive Employer Program trial, and said he hopes it will have a real impact in reducing response times in the region.
“We tend to see significantly higher rates of motor vehicle crashes in rural NSW compared to urban areas.
“Several factors contribute to this alarming statistic, such as the mix of vehicles using the roads from caravan trailers to road trains, and people travelling longer distances on isolated stretches,” Mr Warwick said.
“A recent audit by the State Rescue Board found Nymagee (where the Hera Mine is lo-cated) was one of 12 blackspots where road-side assistance response time is greater than 60 minutes.
“As first responders to road vehicle inci-dents, we’re always looking for ways to de-crease the time it takes for our crews to get to a crash site.
“Given the strong relationship we already have with Hera Mine, it led to discussions on how they could help by providing road crash rescue assistance to the Nymagee Fire Bri-gade.
“Pending the results of this trial, we are hoping to roll out the partnership to other mining companies located in rural areas to shorten road crash assistance times and elimi-nate blackspots,” Mr Warwick said.
Aurelia Chief Operating Officer, Peter Trout said he was pleased to see the collabo-ration, noting it highlighted the company’s commitment to safety and the communities neighbouring its mining and exploration ac-tivities.
“Mining makes an important contribution to rural communities and this initiative is a great example of how Aurelia demonstrates its sup-port for people in the Far West region,” Mr Trout said.
“At Aurelia, the safety of our workforce is fundamental to how we work.
“Our Hera ERT is taking this philosophy beyond the mine gate to help people in their hour of need.
“Our partnership with the NSW RFS repre-sents the start of what we hope will be a long and fruitful collaboration between Aurelia and the emergency services in the Far West re-gion,” he said.
