Corporate report

Mining Remediation Authority health, safety and wellbeing plan 2025 to 2028

Published 27 October 2025

1. Who we are

The Mining Remediation Authority is a 24/7/365 emergency response organisation which protects life, drinking water and the environment from the legacy of mining.

We have colleagues across Great Britain ready to respond and take action to keep people safe and provide peace of mind.

Extensive coalfields exist across Great Britain and roughly 25% of homes and businesses across Great Britain are located above former coal mines.

The vast majority of people will never experience any problems from that, but for those who do we are here to provide support and expertise.

So much of Great Britain’s history has been shaped by the natural minerals under our soil. None more than coal, which has provided heat, steam and power for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Coal was nationalised in 1947, which is why the UK government owns the majority of underground workings and remaining coal reserves under England, Scotland and Wales, along with the responsibility for many of the associated challenges and hazards.

As domestic coal mining has reduced and humanity recognises the impacts of burning carbon on our climate, we are seeking alternative ways to maximise low-carbon opportunities from closed and abandoned mines, such as mine water heat networks.

These provide clean heat for homes and businesses, and benefit communities whose identity was built from coal and who can now benefit from low carbon, social and economic benefits from the warm water in the historical mining assets.

We work with partners, communities and customers to listen, learn and take practical action together to make a better future for people and the environment in mining areas and to enable safe growth, economic development and community benefit.

This includes using our expertise to provide services which remediate pollution and manage risk from other types of mining and contamination.

The Mining Remediation Authority is a non-departmental public body and partner organisation of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

2. Foreword

We are pleased to present the health, safety and wellbeing (HSW) plan for 2025 to 2028. This plan reflects our commitment to protecting people, supporting communities, and enabling safe, sustainable growth across former mining areas.

This plan builds on strong foundations established in our previous plan and is shaped by the insights and experiences of our colleagues, partners, and supply chain. It reflects the complex nature of our work and the increasing importance of innovation, collaboration, and resilience in managing health, safety and wellbeing risks.

At the heart of this plan is our belief that everyone, whether a colleague, contractor, or member of the public, deserves to be safe. We are embedding a culture where safety is not just a priority, but a shared responsibility. By using technology, behavioural insight, and continuous learning, we aim to lead by example.

We are especially proud of the progress we’ve made, achieving a 5-star rating from the British Safety Council. But we are not complacent. This plan outlines how we will continue to improve, benchmarking our performance, embracing innovation, and working closely with our partners to deliver safe outcomes for all.

We thank everyone who has contributed to the achievements of our last plan and the development of this one and look forward to working together to deliver it.

Written by Bev Smith, chair of our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee, and Victoria Slingsby, People and Engagement Director

3. Our health, safety and wellbeing priorities

Our 10-year vision and business plan focus on building safer, cleaner, and greener communities, with health, safety, and wellbeing embedded in everything we do.

This plan builds on our experience and learning, focusing on our high-risk activities and where we can make the biggest difference to support the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, supply chain and the people and communities we serve.

Our approach will be informed by our learning and informed by best practice from partners, our supply chain, regulators and advisory bodies. We will continue to embed behavioural safety to ensure we keep a clear focus on safety whilst recognising the importance of health and wellbeing and interconnectedness of all 3 aspects.

We will also continue to use our management system alongside new technology and artificial intelligence (AI), where appropriate, to support and continuously improve our performance.

3.1 Developing our safety-focused culture

Our people are at the heart of our organisation, and their health, safety and wellbeing will always be our top priority. We are continuing to build a culture where health, safety and wellbeing are part of everything we do, not just systems we follow.

3.2 Technology and innovation

We will expand the use of our online HSW system to allow us to better identify, monitor, and mitigate risks, targeting action towards activities likely to lead to hazards and ensuring a safer environment for all.

3.3 Safe delivery through others

Our partners and supply chain manage significant HSW risks when delivering for us. We will support them, share best practice, and learn from their experiences to continuously enhance standards.

4. Our mission, purpose and values

Our mission, purpose and values were developed with our colleagues and input from partners and adopted by the board in April 2019.

These were revisited as part of our vision and business plan development in 2022 and the board reviewed and agreed that they remain relevant and at the heart of our work and approach for this next period.

4.1 Our mission

Making a better future for people and the environment in mining areas.

4.2 Our purpose

• we keep people safe and provide peace of mind
• we protect and enhance the environment
• we use our information and expertise to help people make informed decisions
• we create value and minimise cost to the taxpayer

4.3 Our values

Trusted

• we act with integrity
• we are open and transparent
• we deliver on our commitments

Inclusive

• we promote a culture of mutual respect
• we recognise that our differences make us stronger
• we work with others to achieve our mission

Progressive

• we are open minded and innovative
• we recognise that the past can help us shape the future
• we listen and learn

5. Developing our safety-focused culture

Our people are at the heart of our organisation, and their health, safety and wellbeing will always be our top priority. We are continuing to build a culture where health, safety and wellbeing are part of everything we do, not just systems we follow.

We work alongside a wide range of communities, partners, and supply chain colleagues. To keep everyone safe, we focus on giving our people the confidence, knowledge and support they need to spot risks and take action, whether that’s for themselves, their teams, or the public. We want everyone to feel empowered to speak up, step in, and make a difference.

We have been committed to building a strong safety culture for many years, but we know there’s always more we can do. That’s why we’re focusing on engaging our people, helping them understand the role they play, both individually and together, in creating a safe and healthy environment for all.

Through targeted, data driven support and interventions we will support our colleagues to build a culture where safety is a shared responsibility, encouraging colleagues to actively participate in identifying and addressing potential hazards and provide the tools to achieve this.

5.1 We will work together to:

• encourage positive behaviours, encouraging colleagues and partners to share and learn from positive safety behaviour, whilst making it easier for people to take action and intervene when something doesn’t feel right

• use insight and feedback to understand how we’re doing, where we can improve, and how we can better support our teams

• create space for learning and sharing, so that good ideas, lessons learned, and best practice can benefit everyone we work with

5.2 By 2028 we will:

• develop and share our Safety Culture Maturity Matrix to help us track progress and grow together

• benchmark ourselves against recognised standards like ISO 45003 to make sure we’re supporting psychological health and safety at work

• keep our systems and tools up to date, but always with people in mind making sure they’re easy to use and help everyone do the right thing

6. Demonstrating our commitment to excellence in health, safety and wellbeing

We continue to prioritise people’s health, safety and wellbeing and have robust and proactive processes and procedures in place to cover this.

This is demonstrated by a recent British Safety Council Occupational Health and Safety Audit that was finalised in February 2025, where we achieved a 5-star rating.

The audit enabled us to benchmark our workplace safety performance against the latest legislation, standards, and best practices. It also allowed for early identification of any potential compliance gaps and for our colleagues to strengthen their risk management strategies.

It is only through the professionalism and dedication of our people, and our supply chain partners, that we were able to achieve such a high grading and we would like to thank all those who were involved throughout the process.

We also understand that we must never become complacent with regards to the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and we will strive to continually improve and develop in these areas.

Our partners Kier, who worked with us to build a new mine water treatment scheme, said:

We were proud to support the Mining Remediation Authority through their occupational health and safety audit at the construction site of the Thorpe Hesley mine water treatment scheme.

We take health and safety as the highest priority at Kier; to support the audit here on site examples the procedures we undertake to ensure thorough health and safety for our workers and the public in vicinity to site.

7. Technology and innovation

We will expand the use of our online health, safety and wellbeing system to allow us to better identify, monitor, and mitigate risks, targeting action towards activities likely to lead to hazards and ensuring a safer environment for all.

We deliver a wide range of services to the communities we serve. To properly understand and manage the associated risks we need an effective and efficient health, safety and wellbeing management system which creates safer workplaces, ensures compliance, reduces costs, and enhances operational efficiency.

We have developed our health, safety and wellbeing management system over many years and continue to learn and improve. Our system and practices need to reflect our business, the work we do and the services we offer, and we ensure this by continually checking their effectiveness through monitoring, audit and management review, making improvements where necessary.

We recognise the efficiencies that online systems can offer and the emerging capability of technology and AI to enhance risk prediction, real-time monitoring, and incident prevention. 

Using our online tools, we enable our colleagues and those we work with to share information about unsafe conditions or acts so we can take action. The same tools allow us to share positive behaviours.

We will continue to unlock the advantages offered by technology and innovation by developing our capability and capacity to use them. We will take full advantage of the systems as they are improved by their providers.

Technology offers us the ability to identify and better manage the threats to the health, safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, those who work for us and those who are affected by the work we do in our communities. We will use data to provide insight and drive our decisions through targeted interventions and initiatives. We will innovate our approach to maximise the benefits of our online system.

7.1 We will work together to:

• continue to develop our online HSW management system with a long-term aim to utilise it to operate the full scope of our HSW management requirements making full use of the AI capabilities being built into the system 

• use the capability of our online HSW management system to deliver the information we need to effectively support collaboration with our supply chain. We will do this by providing performance data through dashboards that record the HSW performance of our suppliers

• continue to explore the potential for our supply chain to input directly into our online HSW management system

7.2 By 2028 we will:

• deliver core functions of our HSW management system through our online safety system

• benchmark ourselves and the use of our online system against others by carrying out a gap analysis against the recognised international standards ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systems and ISO 45003 Psychological health and safety at work

8. Taking positive action towards colleagues’ health and wellbeing

We provide a wide range of services for our customers, often dealing with people in practical situations that can be upsetting or stressful to them.

We understand that in times of trouble or distress, customers sometimes experience frustration and anger about the circumstances they are facing, and this may cause them to act out of character or behave in a negative way despite our best efforts to help.

it is important that our colleagues feel comfortable and supported so we can provide the best possible service. The specialised training and the work we do with colleagues to build understanding around how to respond to and report aggressive and abusive customers is crucial to creating a great place to work.

8.1 Providing our colleagues with the right tools and training

We are committed to continuing to invest in our people to develop customer service skills and understanding across the organisation as illustrated by priorities included within our customer plan 2023 to 2026.

We provide training workshops for colleagues dealing with challenging situations to ensure all our people feel confident about the action they can take if faced with a challenging customer.

Our unacceptable behaviour policy clearly sets out that we treat all customers with courtesy and respect and expect our staff to be treated in the same way.

Our Assure Go platform now has a specific form to be used on all mobile devices, allowing colleagues out on site to log aggressive and abusive types of events so immediate actions can be taken. Locations are logged on our site risk register to alert other colleagues of the incident and follow on checks with the individuals are carried out to ensure their welfare. Between April and July 2025, we received 3 reports of this nature, with us investigating all instances fully with the person that made the report.

Our newly launched trauma risk management training sees a selection of colleagues from around the business take part in a structured, peer-led framework designed to provide support to individuals who have experienced potentially traumatic events.

We have a team of more than 20 qualified mental health first aiders throughout the organisation, which includes remote workers, making sure all operational colleagues are covered across Great Britain.

Our free to use, 24/7 employee assistance programme offers an independent and confidential advice service, providing both practical advice and emotional support.

We value our people and that’s why we are fully committed to protecting them from foreseeable risks, including verbal and physical abuse.

We do not expect our employees to tolerate unacceptable behaviour when communicating with our customers. Before taking action, we will warn customers that their behaviour is unacceptable giving them the opportunity to change. If the behaviour continues, our employees are trained to remove themselves from the situation in the most appropriate manner.

Proper training, supported by robust policies, provides our people with the skills to de-escalate tense situations swiftly and safely, reducing the likelihood of harm, delivering a secure working environment for both our colleagues and the public.

9. Safe delivery through others

Our partners and supply chain manage significant health, safety and wellbeing risks when delivering for us. We will support them, share best practice, and learn from their experiences to continuously enhance standards.

We rely on a diverse range of suppliers to deliver positive outcomes for mining communities. We recognise that our suppliers and partners carry out work that requires them to manage significant risks and hazards.

We have well established arrangements to ensure we work only with suppliers with the right skills, knowledge and experience to manage often complex and challenging projects and work.

We also recognise we have responsibilities to support their work with relevant information and monitor their arrangements to manage risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of their employees and those affected by the work, including our colleagues and members of the public.

We adopt a plan-do-check-act approach using the 3 lines of defence assurance model to provide us with assurance that risks are effectively managed by our suppliers.

We will continue to progress our arrangements through improved engagement across our supply chain to establish and embed a common understanding of our expected values and behaviours whilst reinforcing our joint responsibility for preventing harm.

Our suppliers manage a significant amount of risk to health, safety and wellbeing. We will continue to adopt an approach that ensures we only work with those capable and resourced to manage those risks.

We are committed to working and supporting those we do work with to align our culture and expectations through effective collaboration and engagement.

9.1 We will work together to:

• share our culture and values to enable those who work for us to understand what is important and share learning and best practice to support the health, safety and wellbeing of those working on our behalf

• monitor our property governance arrangements to maintain public safety throughout the full lifecycle of our property ownership

• ensure where our sites are made available to the public, it is done so safely so they can experience the natural environment without risk to their health or safety

9.2 By 2028 we will:

• share our Common Safety Culture Maturity Index with our suppliers to align our values and behaviours

• establish a forum and similar activities to deliver a programme of engagement and collaboration with our supply chain working towards common goals, ensuring that everyone is aligned and focused on achieving the best possible outcomes

10. Working with others to improve the management of high-risk activities

Working in partnership to improve safety remains central to our health, safety and wellbeing approach.

We recently collaborated with the British Drilling Association, the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists Safety Working Group, and the Health and Safety Executive to develop and publish new joint guidance on managing the risk of encountering pressurised gas during drilling operations.

This guidance follows a significant industry-wide review, aimed at strengthening risk assessment processes and enhancing control measures for pressurised gas hazards during drilling operations. It reflects a shared commitment across the sector to proactively address safety risks and promote best practice.

We’ve applied this guidance at our own sites, including our Blidworth mine water monitoring borehole, where deep drilling was undertaken.

Control measures incorporated spark arrestors (Chalwyn valves) and blowout prevention systems (Washington diverters), aligned with the guidance’s recommendations for high-risk scenarios. These measures were put in place to ensure safe operations and mitigate the risk of gas release.

By embedding best practices into our operations and sharing insights with partners, we continue to support safer working environments across the sector. Demonstrating our commitment to collaborative safety leadership and continuous improvement when managing high-risk activities.

11. How we’ll know we’re succeeding

Outcome 2025 to 2028: Demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the health, safety and wellbeing of the public, our colleagues and our partners and supply chain through external benchmarking.

Benchmarking is not just about comparing data or replicating what others do. Benchmarking is more about continuously learning from others, learning more about our organisational strengths and weaknesses in the process, and then acting on the lessons learned. This is what leads to real improvement. Benchmarking is a means to an end, not an end in itself – achieving British Safety Council 5-Star status is not the end of our journey.

We will consult with our parent department, partners , regulators and colleagues to determine a means to benchmark how our safety culture is embedded into our business.

We will undertake the benchmarking and report to our stakeholders on performance and progress.

12. Health, safety and wellbeing plan 2022 to 2025: our achievements

We successfully delivered the majority of our objectives outlined in our 2022 to 2025 plan and our progress has been underpinned by achieving a 5-star rating in the British Safety Council 5-star audit in February 2025.

12.1 Policies and procedures

Create policies and procedures which are accessible to everyone and seamlessly integrated into our business processes, so that health, safety and wellbeing is embedded into everything we do.

Achievements

We reviewed and updated our health, safety and wellbeing management procedures to make them clearer, integrating them wherever possible into wider business processes to prevent duplication.

12.2 Higher risk activities and safeguarding the public

Build on the knowledge and understanding of our high-risk activities and property to continually improve measures which safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of our people, those that work with us and the public.

Achievements

We engaged closely with regulators, government and industry bodies to improve the management high risk activities, including:

• partnering with the HSE Mines Inspectorate and British Drilling Association to raise awareness of drilling risks in coal mining areas, developing a new audit checklist and conducting joint inspections
• working with the HSE Mines Inspectorate to develop procedures for safely re-entering abandoned mines
• enhancing safety procedures across mine water treatment schemes, including new approaches to pump lifts and chemical use that have reduced risks

We have embedded updated water safety procedures and delivered refreshed training for site and property inspectors.

We reviewed and improved public safety policies across our property estate, informed by data and trend analysis from our upgraded health, safety and wellbeing management system.

12.3 Health and wellbeing

Expand the scope of our health, safety and wellbeing plans, to include all issues that may impact mental and physical health to improve the overall wellbeing of our people, those that work with us and those we serve.

Achievements

We developed and implemented a Wellbeing Plan that continues building on the support we provide to colleagues for their mental and physical health and wellbeing.

12.4 Behaviours

Develop and deliver a behavioural health, safety and wellbeing programme that supports the achievement of consistent behaviours and ensures everyone involved in our work is a positive role model.

Achievements

We reviewed and updated personal health, safety and wellbeing responsibilities for colleagues to continue to build on our positive culture and began embedding positive language into our day-to-day HSW management activities.

12.5 Technology

Implement technological changes to the way we capture and record information to improve our understanding and management of health, safety and wellbeing risks and opportunities.

Achievements

We implemented and embedded the industry leading Evotix Assure cloud-based health safety and wellbeing management platform helping to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our HSW management.

12.6 Benchmarking

Regularly undertake third party best practice audits to baseline our performance and support continual improvement with the aim of being amongst the best organisations in our sector for health, safety and wellbeing.

Achievements

We successfully achieved the top 5-star rating in the internationally recognised British Safety Council occupational health and safety audit.