Finishing your Schedule 26 training units feels like the finish line, but it’s just one part of what WorkSafe WA requires before you can be appointed as a statutory supervisor under the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022.
What’s left is a short, defined sequence. You register through the Mines Statutory Positions Portal, sit the Schedule 26 statutory supervisor exam, and get formally appointed by your mine operator. This guide covers each of those steps in order, including what the exam actually looks like and how to prepare for it.
Step 1: Understand the DEMIRS exam
Officially, this is the legislation examination, and WorkSafe WA administers it. Most workers call it the DEMIRS exam after the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, which ran it under its old name. That department is now the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (LGIRS), so you’ll also see it referred to as the WorkSafe LGIRS legislation exam. All three names refer to the same test.
The exam is a separate requirement from your training. No registered training organisation includes it, and completing BSBWHS411 and BSBWHS414 doesn’t get you past it. Those units cover risk management and WHS systems, while the exam covers the legislation itself, specifically the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 and the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022.
WorkSafe sets three eligibility requirements for statutory supervisors:
At least two years of relevant experience
The two approved risk management units
A pass in the legislation exam
If you’ve finished your training, then you’re on the last of the three.
Step 2: Register and book your exam
The exam is offered entirely through the Mines Statutory Positions Portal (MSPP). You’ll need to create an account before you can book anything, which requires a valid Unique Student Identifier. If you’ve trained with a registered training organisation before, you already have one on your training records.
Once your account is verified, select the statutory supervisor pathway, enrol, and choose from the available exam sessions. Keep in mind that:
There’s no fee to sit the legislation exam.
Sessions are currently offered at Cannington in the Perth metro area and in Kalgoorlie.
You can only hold one booking per exam type.
Failing to show up without cancelling can affect your ability to book future sessions.
Session availability changes as WorkSafe adds new dates. Check the current examination schedule and registration requirements before you plan to take the exam.
Step 3: Prepare for and sit the exam
The Schedule 26 statutory supervisor exam takes three hours and covers 55 questions split into three sections:
Section | What it tests | Questions |
Section 1 | Your understanding of the WHS Act 2020 and the WHS (Mines) Regulations 2022, including duties and the regulator’s functions. | 15 |
Section 2 | Your ability to navigate the legislation, with questions drawn from any part of the Act or Regulations. | 20 |
Section 3 | Your knowledge of the Act and Regulations as they apply to statutory supervisors specifically. | 20 |
Questions come as a mix of multiple choice, true or false, and fill in the blanks. You need 80% across the three sections to pass.
You can bring the WHS Act, the Mines Regulations, relevant codes of practice, and either two single-sided or one double-sided A4 page of condensed index notes. Highlighting, index tabs, and margin notes are all permitted. Venues stock copies of the legislation if you’d rather not bring one yourself.
Step 4: Get formally appointed
Passing the exam makes you eligible for appointment, but it doesn’t appoint you. That decision belongs to your mine operator or the site senior executive acting on the operator’s behalf.
When the appointment comes, you’ll need to accept it in writing. An email, a signed job description, or an acknowledgement letter all count, though a verbal yes on its own won’t. That written acceptance becomes part of the record your employer keeps, since Schedule 26 appointments don’t get notified to WorkSafe the way key statutory positions do. Inspectors check those records during audits instead, confirming you met the eligibility requirements before you started supervising.
Your appointment also covers a defined area rather than the whole mine. Schedule 26 requires statutory supervisors for laboratories, processing plants, quarries, and workshops. Your operator decides on any additional areas after running their own risk assessment. If they appoint you for the pit, that doesn’t stretch to the warehouse or the camp unless they say so.
What happens after you're appointed?
No fixed re-certification period applies to statutory supervisors in WA. You won’t be renewing your exam result on a five-year cycle the way you would with a high-risk work licence. What your mine will expect is that you stay current through the ongoing training and development built into its safety management system.
Your exam certification won’t transfer if you move into a different statutory position later. Section 3 tests knowledge specific to the role you sat it for, so you’ll have to take a different exam if you want a different position.
Staying in the role isn’t the only option either. Plenty of statutory supervisors use the appointment as a stepping stone towards mining superintendent and site senior executive positions, where the accountability broadens and the pay climbs with it.
Get your Schedule 26 training with Civil Safety
Civil Safety (RTO 32381) delivers the Statutory Mining Supervisors Course that covers both approved units. Choose the online course if you’d rather work through it at your own pace, or the face-to-face course at our Perth or Kalgoorlie training centres.
Contact us to check upcoming dates or ask about training your supervisory team together.
Frequently asked questions
No. The course covers the two approved training units, BSBWHS411 and BSBWHS414. You book and sit the legislation exam separately through the Mines Statutory Positions Portal.
Not officially, though it's still widely used. WorkSafe WA administers the exam and calls it the legislation examination. If your employer or a training provider says DEMIRS exam, they mean the same thing.
You can re-sit. WorkSafe allows three attempts per calendar year, so failing your first go still leaves you with two more attempts within the same year.