Each state regulates alcohol at a mine through its own instrument, so an operator working in more than one state carries more than one set of duties. This guide reads the mine safety instruments for Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia from their own official pages, then explains where an alcohol interlock for mining vehicles sits beside site breath testing. Affordable Interlock Systems (AIS) wrote it for safety, health and fleet managers who are comparing approaches. It describes three states only; it is not a national position and it is not legal advice.

Last updated 9 October 2026.

How to read this guide

Each state section names one primary instrument, says when it was read and states only what that instrument says. Nothing is read across from one state to another, and the territories are left out because no territory instrument was read for this guide.

Where an official page was read at the level of a heading or an excerpt, the section says so. Regulator guidance is described as the regulator’s view and not as a legal requirement.

Queensland

Queensland has two separate regulations, and they are read separately here. The Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 covers coal mines. The Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Regulation 2017 covers other mines and quarries, and its text is not assumed to match the coal regulation.

In the coal regulation, section 39 says a person must not consume alcohol at a coal mine other than in an accommodation building or a recreation area designated by the site senior executive. Section 40 says a person must not carry out a work activity at a coal mine, or enter a part of the mine where on-site activities are carried on, while under the influence of alcohol.

Section 41 then turns to the mine’s safety and health management system. The system must provide for controlling the risks associated with excessive consumption of alcohol, including an education program, an employee assistance program and assessments of fitness for work. Those assessments are voluntary self-testing, random testing before starting work, and testing a person when someone else reasonably suspects the person is under the influence of alcohol. In plain terms, the coal regulation expects a testing regime to sit inside the mine’s own management system.

In the mining and quarrying regulation, the provision is section 84, headed ‘Alcohol and drugs’. It says a person must not carry out operations at a mine, or enter an operating part of a mine, while under the influence of alcohol or impaired by a drug, to the extent that the alcohol or drug impairs or could impair the person’s ability to safely carry out their duties. It also limits where alcohol may be consumed to an accommodation facility or a designated recreation area. The part of that page read for this guide did not set out a testing scheme, so none is described here.

Queensland road alcohol limits for vehicle drivers are a separate matter again. A site rule and a road rule are different instruments, and this guide does not merge them.

New South Wales

The Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2022 was read on its current in-force page on 9 October 2026. Section 45, headed ‘Fatigue, alcohol and drugs’, sits in the subdivision on fitness for work. It says that in complying with section 14, the operator of a mine or petroleum site must manage the risks to health and safety associated with worker fatigue, the consumption of alcohol by workers and the use of drugs by workers.

That wording is a duty to manage a risk. The excerpt read for this guide does not say how an operator must do it, and it does not prescribe a particular test. The regulation also requires the operator to prepare a health control plan setting out how health risks from mining operations will be managed. Whether that plan must cover alcohol specifically is set out in provisions not read for this guide.

The NSW Resources Regulator publishes its own guidance on fitness for work and alcohol and other drugs. That guidance was not read for this guide, so no guidance position is stated here.

Western Australia

The Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022 are published on the WA legislation site, which showed a current consolidated version with a currency start of 15 May 2026. Regulation 641, headed ‘Alcohol and drugs’, sits in the subdivision on fitness for work, beside regulation 640 on fatigue.

The excerpt of regulation 641 read for this guide says that, in complying with regulation 617, the mine operator must manage health and safety risks associated with workers' alcohol consumption at the mine. That is the same shape of duty as section 45 in New South Wales: manage the risk. In neither excerpt is a test prescribed, so nothing read for this guide tells a WA operator which test to run, when or at what level.

The regulation 641 excerpt read is a duty to manage the risk. The WA regulator’s page on the mine safety management system says mine operators have a duty to establish and implement one, and describes it as the framework that brings together the mine’s policies, systems, procedures and plans. The regulator’s general page on duties relating to drugs and alcohol says a PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) must manage health and safety risks and that this might include setting specific policies for the use of drugs and alcohol. Both pages are regulator guidance, not the regulation, and neither is specific to alcohol testing at a mine.

Two things were not read: the full text of regulation 641 (the page that publishes it was too long to read in full, and a search excerpt shows the regulation has a second subregulation whose text was not read) and any mine-specific fitness for work guidance from the regulator. Both are the next step for a WA operator, and this guide states nothing about WA testing, thresholds or drugs beyond what is set out above.

Where an interlock fits beside site breath testing

The instruments, read at this level, concern what an operator does on the mine. None of the passages read for this guide mentions an ignition interlock, and none requires one. An operator who is weighing an interlock is making a risk management decision, not meeting a stated legal requirement. The Queensland coal regulation prescribes the components of a testing regime inside the mine’s safety and health management system, so in Queensland coal the choice of control sits inside that prescribed regime. The NSW section 45 and WA regulation 641 excerpts read, and Queensland mining and quarrying section 84, set a duty or a prohibition without prescribing a test in the text read, so outside Queensland coal the choice of control sits with the operator.

Site breath testing and an interlock do different jobs. Site testing, whether random, on suspicion or at the gate, is a point-in-time screening programme run under the operator’s own rules. An interlock is a device in the vehicle that asks for a breath sample every time the vehicle starts, and it stops the vehicle starting if the result is over a preset limit.

For light vehicles such as utes, dual-cabs and crew transport that leave the site, the two controls cover different moments, including starts made away from the gate. A multi-state operator may find it practical to use the same vehicle-level control in every state while site testing follows each state’s own instrument. That is a design choice for the operator, and nothing read for this guide asks for it.

AIS describes its commercial interlock systems as suited to goods transport and to heavy equipment and machinery, including mining vehicles, with telematics integration that lets fleet managers monitor driver sobriety. Whether a given vehicle, including heavy equipment and haul vehicles, can take a device is confirmed with AIS at the quoting stage. Court-ordered interlock programmes are a different subject, covered on the Queensland interlock programme page.

Frequently asked questions

Do mine operators have to test for alcohol?

It depends on the state and the instrument. The Queensland coal regulation prescribes the components of a testing regime inside the mine’s safety and health management system, including random testing before work and testing on reasonable suspicion (section 41). The New South Wales section 45 and Western Australian regulation 641 excerpts read, and Queensland mining and quarrying section 84, set a duty or a prohibition without prescribing a test in the text read.

Can an interlock be used in a mine fleet vehicle?

None of the passages read for this guide requires or forbids it. AIS fits commercial interlock systems to fleet vehicles, and whether a specific vehicle suits a device is confirmed when a quote is prepared.

Talk to AIS about your fleet

AIS is here to help you work out how a vehicle-level control fits with the testing you already run. Request a quote or simply call us on 1-800-252-656 and tell us the vehicle types and the states you operate in.