The lead public health crisis at Broken Hill, in the state’s Far West, continues to be of concern, with new documents raising questions about the way mining workers with lead detected in their blood were told this information. Their position functionally blocked public health authorities from contacting these workers, with one public health officer noting in correspondence from 2022 that this made it difficult to follow up testing and treatment, particularly for contract hires. The mines had a duty to report to the regulator. In addition, the documents revealed it was the public health unit – not the mining company – that alerted the NSW Resources Regulator to the alarming lab results. Last month, this masthead decried the decision of NSW government bureaucrats to delay the release of a critical report on current lead contamination in the town as shameful.