Twenty-nine men died at Pike River underground coal mine. Management ignored 21 warnings of methane levels reaching explosive volumes in the previous 48 days. Critical warnings that could have saved 29 lives if investigated. The mine was over budget and delayed; its safety culture deteriorated with production pressures. Corners were cut on safety, an unforgivable sin in a high-hazard industry. The Department of Labour (DOL) did not assess Pike's safety information; it was not required to and lacked training and resources.
The company operating the mine, Pike River Coal Ltd, declared bankruptcy. After the disaster, it received more than $100 million, including insurance payouts. BNZ bank, the lender, was paid out in full. The principal shareholders recovered $50m from a loan to the mine. The families received only $18,700 each ($0.5m in total). The company claimed there was no money to pay even the court-ordered $3.4 million. There was no legal obligation to compensate the families, only an unsecured "moral claim".
Peter Whittall, the CEO, was charged for his role in the safety failures but in a settlement agreement, these charges were dropped and a $3.4m director's insurance claim was paid to the families. The court case was abandoned as DOL opted to offer no evidence. The company itself was never charged due to a lack of evidence regarding the exact cause of the accident.
"Safety regulations are written in blood" goes an industry adage, meaning improvements happen only after major traumatic incidents.
Based on Royal Commission recommendations, a new Health and Safety Act (HSWA) was enacted. A new crown entity WorkSafe took over from DOL, and health and safety laws were strengthened. Worksafe now has a High Hazard Unit with more industry specialists and conducts more extensive audits of high-hazard industries.
In December 2019, the active volcano on Whakaari Island erupted while a tour group was on it, causing 22 deaths and harming 25, many with life-changing injuries. Worksafe has been criticised as it knew unregistered parties took tourists to the island but didn't sanction them. Audits missed that an active volcano was on the island and that this was a high-hazard site.
By 2015, the rate of fatalities (excluding major incidents) was 40 per cent lower than pre-Pike River, partly due to companies reviewing their safety protocols in the immediate aftermath of the event. However, the rate has increased by 11 per cent since then; the serious injury rate fell until 2016 but has crept back to almost the pre-Pike River level.
"That everyone who goes to work comes home healthy and safe" is Worksafe's vision.
Under its current CEO, Phil Parkes, Worksafe has taken a more systems-oriented approach, including how high-hazard industries work, the leadership, and culture of companies with high casualties.
In March, Parkes told Newsroom, "work is not just delivered by frontline workers and supervisors. It's delivered by people who set up organisations and leaders who set the culture. Directors who make the financial decisions and the architects who design the buildings. The owners of forests, who decide where to plant the trees. There is a huge [number] of players... that have health and safety responsibilities and influence and control, that don't always sit in the business that carries out the frontline activity. The directors of a corporation whose subsidiaries repeatedly harm workers can expect the regulator's close scrutiny; so can the supplier of dangerous equipment."
A study commissioned by Worksafe in 2021 found no improvement in the numbers since the new Act was introduced in 2015. Worksafe's latest annual report 2020 states, "We also need to acknowledge that what we have achieved is not nearly enough... Our health and safety system performance still lags behind comparable countries..."
Although we saw some improvement since Pike River, progress has flattened and deteriorated since 2016. We need to do better; lives are at stake.
• Kushlan Sugathapala is a researcher and writer on social justice issues.
