News

Former Pike CEO's role as safety consultant insensitive

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +1300

Former Pike River CEO Peter Whittall's role as a mine safety consultant is insensitive to the families of the Pike 29 and a slap in the face to the mining community, says the Union that represents miners.

Despite facing multiple charges relating to the Pike River mine disaster, Peter Whittall has set up a business to advise the minerals industry on management, technical and safety matters.

"Miners are very practical and safety conscious people. They will want to know the outcome of Pike River inquiry, what happened in the mine and who was responsible for what happened. We would have expected someone with a history in mining to understand and respect that," says EPMU assistant national secretary, Ged O'Connell.

"The EPMU has deep concerns over what happened at Pike River and for the future direction of mine safety across our mining industry. It's inappropriate and a slap in the face for the mining community to have Peter Whittall advising mine management on safety while the Department of Labour case against him is still pending," says Mr O'Connell.

Union confident about health and safety systems at Huntly coalmine

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +1300

The union representing miners at Solid Energy's Huntly East operation, the EPMU, is confident there are good systems in place for health and safety management at the underground coalmine.

Solid Energy is holding a public meeting in Huntly this afternoon to outline what is happening at the mine in response to concerns about possible health and safety breaches involving gas levels. An EPMU official and union members will also be attending the meeting.

"We're not aware of any complaints of the order of a Pike River-like health and safety situation at Huntly East," says Ged O'Connell, EPMU assistant national secretary. "We are aware of a recent event that has led to an investigation by Solid Energy and the Department of Labour."

The EPMU is strongly advocating for better mine safety and stronger regulation in the wake of the 2010 Pike River coalmine disaster in which 29 miners were killed.

"We are confident that Solid Energy is not a Pike operation and there's a much higher level of accountability and responsibility because it is a state owned enterprise," says O'Connell. "There's also a large amount of across-the-board experience and knowledge of underground coal mining at Huntly, unlike Pike River where there was very little. However, one pressure point that's developing is the loss of experienced miners to Australia who are attracted by better pay and conditions."

O'Connell says the EPMU is recognised by Solid Energy as playing an integral role in mine safety at Huntly and has strong network of union health and safety representatives, delegates and officials working with the company to constantly monitor and improve health and safety systems.

"However, while we have a good level of engagement with Solid Energy we are still advocating at the national level for a world's best practice approach to underground mining safety where we'd have the three-legged stool of excellent regulations, a highly competent and effective government inspectorate and worker-elected mine check inspectors," says O'Connell.

Taranaki drilling workers want certainty about their jobs before Christmas

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1300

The EPMU wants an appeal against a Taranaki drilling company's consent fast-tracked so that workers have some certainty about what's happening with their jobs in the run up to Christchurch.

Ensign contracts to TAG Oil in the Taranaki, performing exploration and drilling work. As a result of an appeal against a TAG Oil drilling consent, up to 20 EPMU members who work for Ensign have been given seven days notice of redundancy.

EPMU organiser, Ross Henderson, says TAG Oil was not prepared to pay a daily retainer to Ensign to allow EPMU members to be continued to be employed while the appeal was being decided by the local Regional Council.

"There is never a good time for our members to be made redundant. However being this close to Christmas it is really hard on members and their families," says Henderson. "TAG Oil & Ensign run the risk of losing a skilled and experienced work force by not agreeing to keep these valuable workers on the payroll and we can only hope that the Council considers this appeal quickly and it is decided before Christmas."

EPMU welcomes health and safety policy

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +1300

The EPMU is welcoming Labour's health and safety policy, announced this week, saying it signals a move away from the hands-off, self regulation approach that has been an abysmal failure, costing lives and serious accidents.

"With the Pike River anniversary looming we are reminded of the critical failure of such light handed health and safety regulatory systems with unbelievably tragic results," says Ged O'Connell, assistant national secretary. "We now all know there are some serious short-comings in mine safety that must be rectified, and this can be amplified across other industries."

Labour announced earlier this year that it was committed to reinstating mine check inspectors. These are workers who are elected by their fellow mining with the specific role of ensuring mine safety. Check inspectors were abolished by the National government in the early 1990s.

"When people are working in very dangerous industries you can't have a system that lets companies self-regulate because it's seen as being good for business. You only have to look at the social and financial toll from the Pike disaster to understand the costs are too high," says O'Connell. "It's only
fair that we have a system where working people can expect to go to work everyday knowing they will return safe to their families at the end of it."

Good week for miners

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

EPMU welcomes announcements made this week that will have a significant impact on health and safety in the mining industry.

Ged O'Connell, Assistant National Secretary of the EMPU said today "it's been a good week for miners, on the heels of the Government's announcement of a revived mines health and safety inspectorate, we are pleased to hear the Labour Party policy released today of a comprehensive health and safety agenda that would re-introduce employee elected health and safety inspectors."

"The check inspectors, reinforced with a strong regulatory framework based on the mining regulations in Queensland, will create much a safer work environment for our miners," said Ged O'Connell.

High hazards unit a good start, but more work needed

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +1200

The union representing most underground coal miners and oil and gas industry workers has welcomed the government's high hazards unit as a good start but says more will need to be done for New Zealand to reach world's best practice standard.

The government today announced the establishment of a high hazards unit made up of a chief inspector and three inspectors for each of the mining and oil & gas sectors as well as an overall chief. The unit is to be funded at a cost of $1.5 million from a levy the government already collects and which has been under spent by a considerable amount for some years.

The announcement follows damning evidence about the Department of Labour's capacity to deal with mining incidents at recent hearings of the Royal Commission on Pike River and a report that there is only one inspector covering the country's oil & gas exploration and production industry which operates in Taranaki, Northland, the East Coast and the Great South Basin.

"It's good to see the government taking action now, even though it was quite resistant to doing anything even recently, but more still needs to be done," EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell said.

"There is no question that after the Department of Labour's performance was exposed at the recent Pike River hearings we lost complete confidence in it to do the job of mines safety properly."

"They don't have the staff and the staff they did have, including the one mines inspector in place now. clearly haven't been supported to do the job."

"There was evidence that efforts to travel to mine incidents, such as ignitions underground - the most dangerous sort of incident in an underground mine, went unattended because a regional manager was afraid they had overspent that month's travel budget."

"We still need to be sure that this unit will be resourced to do the job properly - I don't know how far $1.5 million goes, but surely one thing we've learned from Pike River is that we should never scrimp on workplace health and safety."

"And a good inspectorate is only part of the deal. There is the need for decent regulation and reinstatement of the check inspector role to provide the full check and balance required."

"The government might want to do something truly radical and actually talk to the representatives of miners and oil & gas workers and find out what they want. As it is, we only heard about today's announcement through the media," Mr O'Connell said.

For more information, contact Ged O'Connell, Assistant National Secretary, 0275 328152 or Andrew Little, Special Counsel, 0275 513476.

Hearings confirm appalling state of health and safety in underground mines

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1200

Now that the first phase of the Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy hearings has closed, our view of the appalling state of health and safety in underground mines has been confirmed, says EPMU assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell.

‘And while the government sits on its hands, waiting for the commission to finish its work, miners continue to risk their lives in New Zealand's underground mines.'

‘Of the three inspectors dedicated to underground mines safety within the Department of Labour, two have left following the Pike River tragedy and have not been replaced,' says O'Connell.

O'Connell says that the government and the company both carry some responsibility for the tragedy, in refusing to adopt best practice health and safety measures. ‘Not only had the government stepped back from mines safety, the company itself had not proceeded with basic steps like building a second exit,' says O'Connell.

‘It's clear from the evidence that the government had no intention of doing much more for mines safety,' says EPMU special counsel Andrew Little.
‘The government explicitly rejected recommendations to improve worker participation. Even though the present Minister of Labour mandated some improvement in regulations, the department did nothing about it for two years, and still hasn't done the job.'

Government inaction doesn't let the company off the hook, claims Little.

‘The company was headed by a CEO who had had 25-plus years experience in Queensland, knew what good mines health and safety looked like, and even commented publicly about the low standard of mines regulation in New Zealand.'

‘The company took a calculated gamble that it could get away with doing less than what was required because our regulations were lacking.'
O'Connell says that throughout the Commission hearings, the EPMU has reinforced the need for three basic improvements to mine safety in this country.

‘One, we need good, strong and effective safety regulations. Two, we need a capable and well resourced mines inspectorate. And three, we need to see the position of check inspector of mines reinstated.'

A check inspector is a union elected health and safety inspector. Check inspectors were required by law in New Zealand prior to the 1992 deregulation process. They are still required in Queensland mines under Australian law.

The first phase of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy hearings on context closed last week (22 July).

The second phase of the Royal Commission hearings on search and rescue will open on 5 September.

Union calls for immediate strengthening of mines inspectorate

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +1200

The EPMU is calling for an immediate strengthening of the mines inspectorate, without waiting for the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the Pike River tragedy to issue its final report. EPMU special legal counsel Andrew Little says the inquiry has heard enough about safety problems at Pike River to act now.

‘It's become quite clear that there were safety risks at Pike River, and that these would have been exposed if a more rigorous system of safety checks, equipment and procedures had been in place,' says Little.

Solid Energy boss Don Elder has backed the union's call to increase the number of mining inspectors, following his admission at the Royal Commission of Inquiry that there had been four fires in the Spring Creek mine in the past two months.

‘There were four ignition incidents in eight weeks, which is of serious concern even in a mine such as Spring Creek with comparatively good safety procedures,' Little told the commission.

‘In two of the incidents no inspector had attended the site,' said Little. ‘We're putting this issue in front of the commission to highlight problems with resourcing and quality of the current inspectorate.'

‘There is nothing to stop the Government reinstating a dedicated mines inspectorate and the post of chief mines inspector right now.'

Elder says that his company would support a strengthened mine inspectorate regime as a useful step towards improved safety across the industry. He says that his company already exceeds regulatory and safety standards.

Little says that Solid Energy has properly logged the incidents and has a good reporting culture.

Mines safety standards seen as 'shocking' by Australians

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1200

Australians are shocked at the gap between mines safety standards in Australia and New Zealand. Mine workers and their families have slammed safety standards as lax and described the New Zealand government as clueless over mines safety.

Australian miner Peter Satler told TVNZ's Sunday programme (12 June) that working in the Pike River coalmine was ‘an eye-opener for me, it was like going back in time really.'

Satler was a supervisor at Pike River mine until July 2009, when he left because of safety concerns. ‘There were quite a few things I saw there that sort of shocked me,' Satler said, citing particular concerns around miners starting fans in the presence of highly explosive methane gas.

In the Moranbah mine in Queensland where Slater now works, miners can't touch anything electrical unless they're qualified. In Australia, only statutory officials of the colliery can start an auxiliary fan.

Slater said that when he raised his concerns with management, he was told ‘you're not in Australia, you're in New Zealand.'

Slater also expressed concerns that gas monitoring in the mine did not include a tube bundling system that measures trends in the gases present in the mine. In Queensland it is compulsory by law to have a tube bundling system installed.

‘The whole New Zealand legislation surprised me really,' he said.

EPMU national secretary Andrew Little says that Queensland's regulations are seen as ‘virtually best practice' and that New Zealand has a ‘moral obligation' to apply them here with immediate effect.

Following on from Prime Minister John Key's admission to Australian media (21 June) that the Pike River coalmine would have been ‘illegal' in New Zealand, the union believes that the way is clear to change the laws regarding mine construction and safety in New Zealand.

Joanne Ufer, the mother of Josh Ufern, one of two Australians to die in the Pike River mine disaster, was reported on the same day in the National Business Review as saying she was surprised to hear Key's comments on mine safety.

‘If anything at all comes out of this, it should be a change in the safety standards,' she told the paper.

International safety consultant and New Zealander Dave Feikert agrees. He told TVNZ that if there had been a proper functioning mines inspectorate with a union inspectorate in place, the Pike River mine disaster would not have happened.

Carol Rose, mother of dead miner Stuart Mudge, told Radio New Zealand that Key's statements showed the New Zealand government was ‘clueless' over mines safety.

She said New Zealand miners had gone to work in Australia and found much higher standards in place. She also criticised the dismantling of a mines safety inspectorate system, which she claimed could have helped prevent the Pike River explosions.

‘Not only clueless but they actually dismantled the very system that was there to protect those workers,' Rose was reported as saying. ‘And that was just to save a few measly bucks. And now look at the cost incurred... for them being so lax.'

The EPMU, the union representing mine workers in New Zealand, has been saying the same thing for some time. ‘The overarching problem is that this is an industry that is working to a code of standards that isn't mandatory and under an inspectorate that simply isn't capable of doing its job with the resources that it's got,' says Little.

‘You've only got to do a rough and ready comparison with Australian mining regulations to know that we do things here that simply wouldn't be tolerated in Australia.'

‘We don't want a repeat, we don't want anybody else being put at risk.'

Government inaction on mines safety goes back decades

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +1200

The government must take action now on improving underground mine safety rather than waiting for the Royal Commission on Pike River, the EPMU says.

Prime Minister John Key told Australian media that the Pike River mine would have been illegal in Australia and that New Zealand mining laws would change in light of the disaster. This followed recent publicity highlighting the differences in mining safety standards in the two countries.

‘There is ample evidence that safety standards here are below par, even the government has accepted that and they should do something now,' assistant national secretary Ged O'Connell says.

‘The Prime Minister's comments have attracted a lot of attention here and in Australia and he has a moral obligation to act.'

In response to Green MP Kevin Hague in Parliament (22 June), the Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson has signalled that the National government is not prepared to match safety standards that already apply across the Tasman. The government wants to leave workers' safety in the hands of the employers, despite the tragic failure of this policy at Pike River.

Hague says that while National was dismantling the structure and regulations that maximised underground safety during the 1990s, they were being repeatedly warned by experts that this would cost lives and paid those warnings no heed.

‘In 1992 they did away with the check inspectors - effectively one leg of a 3-legged stool - and in 1998 they sawed off more than half of one of the other legs by closing down the Mines Inspectorate.'

‘This was coupled with a change to regulations. The Health and Safety in Employment Act in 1992 repealed the strict and mandatory safety rules for underground mining in the Coal Mines Act 1979 and replaced them with nothing, leaving underground mining largely unregulated.'

Hague says that no new regulations were introduced until 1999, but the new rules incorporated a fundamentally different approach. He points out that instead of being mandatory and universal, the new regulations generally contained a qualifier ‘where practicable'. This effectively allows the mining companies and their management to make decisions on what might be practical or affordable for particular mines.

‘The government has had repeated opportunities to do something but has turned them all down,' says Hague. ‘Now they say they will wait for the findings of the Royal Commission before doing anything - 2013 at the earliest. Could it be they would prefer to not have their inaction on mine safety connected with the Pike 29 before the General Election?'