Journey
Set up a mining support service business
Learning path for mining support service businesses — drilling, well services, site preparation, pumping and draining for mining and petroleum operators. Work out which regulations apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet your worksite compliance duties, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Mining support services — drilling, well services, site preparation, pumping and draining — work in some of the most hazardous environments in the UK economy. Your regime is health-and-safety-led: the general workplace duties, COSHH and DSEAR controls for hazardous and flammable substances, and RIDDOR reporting. On top of that sit the worksite-specific regimes: the offshore safety-case and well-construction duties for petroleum support, and the Mines and Quarries Regulations for mining support. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions — those live in the guides it points to. This is the map: it tells you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Every mining support contractor shares the same workplace foundation. But whether the offshore safety-case regime or the Mines and Quarries Regulations apply depends on where you work. Use the router guide to map out your obligations before you commit.
Which mining support service regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply to your business. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace foundation to the worksite-specific regimes.
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Put your workplace foundations in place
This is the universal spine. Risk-assess the work, control hazardous substances under COSHH and fire and explosion risk under DSEAR, and keep plant safe under PUWER. Manage manual handling and fire safety, report incidents under RIDDOR, hold employers' liability insurance and meet your equality and data protection duties. Build this in from the start.
Set up and run a safe mining support service
The duties every mining support contractor shares — general health and safety, COSHH and DSEAR controls, work equipment (PUWER), manual handling, fire safety, RIDDOR reporting, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Meet your worksite compliance duties
When you work on an offshore installation, at a mine or at a quarry, you must comply with the site-specific safety regimes. For petroleum support that means the offshore safety-case and well-construction duties. For mining support it means the Mines Regulations 2014 or the Quarries Regulations 1999 depending on the site. These duties are separate from the workplace spine.
Meet your worksite compliance duties for mining support
The site-specific regimes — offshore safety-case and well-construction duties (petroleum support) and the Mines and Quarries Regulations (mining support).
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the workplace spine is operating and the worksite duties are in place, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation — workplace, worksite and employment — is genuinely met rather than assumed.
Mining support service: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — the workplace and employment duties, and the worksite compliance duties.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every business carries general obligations that are not unique to mining support but are just as compulsory. As you build the business you will also need to:
- protect the people who work for you — meet your workplace health and safety duties, including the COSHH and DSEAR assessments that bite around hazardous and flammable substances.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — most businesses must complete data protection registration with the ICO.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises you work from.
These general duties run in parallel with the sector path rather than after it, so set them up as you establish the business.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task. Work out which rules apply, put your workplace foundations in place, meet your worksite compliance duties, and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position before you start work.