Australian mining safety regulation is built on the model Work Health and Safety Act, implemented through state and territory legislation rather than a single national instrument (Safe Work Australia, 2019). Mining-specific requirements sit within each jurisdiction: Western Australia applies the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022, while Queensland coalmines operate under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and its recognised standards (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, 2018). Terminology differs between jurisdictions (principal mining hazard management plans, or PMHMPs, in Western Australia; principal hazard management plans, or PHMPs, in New South Wales and Queensland), but the obligation is consistent. Operators must identify principal hazards, implement controls and demonstrate that those controls remain effective (WorkSafe Western Australia, 2025). Critical control management (CCM) sharpens this expectation. Controls must be specific, measurable and actively verified rather than simply documented, with verification assigned to accountable control owners and reported through the management line (ICMM, 2015). Verification connects a documented control to its performance in the field: where it lapses, an operator retains the plan but loses evidence that the control still functions. Awareness of CCM principles has grown, yet a gap persists between preparing a hazard management plan and demonstrating that its critical controls hold in the field. Most operations maintain hazard registers and control frameworks. Current evidence of control performance is harder to produce on request, because it is distributed across paper forms, spreadsheets and systems that do not exchange data. As automation, remote operations and regulatory expectations increase, consistent assurance becomes harder to maintain. This paper presents a conceptual framework describing how digital integration of inspection and verification activities can strengthen critical control assurance while supporting broader governance and organisational maturity objectives.