Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety police checks

The Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety is Western Australia's government regulating the building and mining industry. They help ensure industry safety, uphold health and environmental standards and protect consumers.

You must secure an adequate occupational licence if you'd like to enter the mining and related industries. One of the critical requirements for submitting an occupational licence application is a police check. Passing a police check helps to certify that you are a suitable individual, thus helping to minimise hiring risks. You need a police check if you're applying for authorisation from any of these authorities in Western Australia:

• ✔ Director of Energy Safety
• ✔ Commissioner for Consumer Protection
• ✔ Electrical Licensing Board
• ✔ WorkSafe Western Australia Commissioner
• ✔ Building Services Broad
• ✔ Plumbers Licensing Board

This police check can either be:

You can obtain a national police certificate from the Western Australian Police Force. To get started, fill out the online application form. Note that you cannot apply for a WA occupational licence with an NPC issued by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The only exception is if you reside overseas or your application connects to the Indian Ocean Territories.

Once completed, you will either receive a paper or digital check result. You must add that to your licensing application if it's a paper result.

An NCCHC shows the criminal record of an applicant. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is responsible for offering these checking services. They work with several accredited bodies to make police checks accessible to Australians.

Australian National Character Check (ANCC) is one of Australia's ACIC-accredited agencies, providing efficient and affordable police checks, including police checks for residents in WA.

A digital certificate is issued to the applicant once the check is complete. This can then be used in the occupational licence application.

As noted earlier, several ACIC-accredited agencies provide police checking services. To apply, you must fill in your details, like name, contact details, and the purpose of the check.

Once completed, you must also upload four documents. They include:

• A) One commencement of ID document
• B) One primary use in community documents
• C) Two secondary use in community documents

Finally, you must pay an application fee, which depends on the agency you're using for the check. ANCC charges a base fee of $52.90 + GST for a police check.

Once you submit your application, the ACIC-accredited agency verifies your identity. After that, your application is sent to the National Police Checking Service Support System (NSS).

A name-matching algorithm filters out potential matches from the database. Relevant police agencies receive possible matches for additional assessment. A 'No Disclosable Court Outcome' is returned to the accredited agency if no match is found. Conversely, a 'Disclosable Court Outcome' is returned if a match is found. However, the relevant police agency first receives this result for vetting.

During this vetting process, the police agency applies the Spent Conviction Scheme and information release policies to determine how criminal records are released per the purpose of the check.

After the vetting stage, the final result is sent to the relevant agency where you lodged your check, which notifies the applicant. The police check result essentially contains criminal offences like court convictions, charges, court appearances, finding with no sentence, traffic offences, pending matters awaiting court hearings and good behaviour bonds.

The relevant licensing body assesses the contents of your police check result when assessing your licensing application. Your application may only be successful if your police check result suggests you will be fit to work in that occupation.

Note that you must give the accredited agency informed consent before they perform a police check on you. You must make sure that you:

• 1) Understand how your personal information will be handled and disclosed.
• 2) Give consent to the accredited agency conducting the check
• 3) Indicate the purpose of the check so the results will be rightly applicable. To remind you, you must fill in 'Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety licensing purpose' if the check is part of your licensing application.

About 70% of applications are processed in 24 hours. However, about 30% of applications are referred to the relevant police agencies for manual processing and can take longer than 15 days to complete.

Suppose you've ordered an NCCHC for Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety licensing purposes. In that case, you will be unable to use it for other purposes because the criminal record on the police check result partly depends on the stated purpose of the check. Hence, it may not contain information relevant to other purposes.

ANCC offers fast, efficient, and affordable police check services for:

ANCC’s portal for individuals makes it easy to perform a police check. To get started, fill out the online form and upload the necessary documents. You can track the process from the online platform.

ANCC's Business Portal is ideal for HR managers seeking to conduct bulk police checks. This platform makes it easy to manage and track the application for multiple candidates in real time.