The focus of this paper is upon the application of both safe and inclusive design to equipment used by operational and maintenance personnel in mining. It begins by introducing the minerals industry and outlining two important human-related issues that will greatly impact upon the design of future mining equipment. The paper then focuses on the importance of safe and inclusive design in this domain, and outlines a task-orientated risk assessment and design process called ‘OMAT’ that was developed by the authors. A series of semi-structured interviews with designers of mining equipment are then presented: they focus in particular on how designers currently obtain user-centred input and how the OMAT process might be integrated into their design practices. Finally, conclusions regarding the future safe and inclusive design of equipment (especially automated equipment) in this domain and why user-centred design processes should be of central importance to mining are presented.