Rodney Hide: Pike River super-caution admirable

Photo / File

Opinion

The election's over and we are now back complaining and telling everyone else their job. We're good at that.

In the gun this week: Solid Energy bosses. They should "man-up", get down Pike River mine and "bring the boys home". Yup. That's if they cared. Or had hearts.

John Key should make them. After all, Solid Energy belongs to us. It's a state-owned enterprise. The buck stops with Key. He's their boss. On our behalf.

There has been much bellowing and teeth gnashing. It's great radio talkback fodder. There are conspiracy theories, talk of a cover-up, claims of lying, gutlessness and general uselessness. No doubt those baying the loudest also bayed for the blood of Pike River Coal bosses. They should have taken more care. They should have been held to account.

But hang on. That's precisely what Solid Energy bosses are doing. They are taking care. They do have hands-on responsibility for their workers' safety. They are not putting them at risk. They are super-cautious. And we are berating them for that?

It make no sense. We have seen what can happen in a mine. We know what happens if bosses don't take responsibility. We have grieving families, communities and a country that know all too well the tragic consequences when things go wrong in a mine.

Solid Energy is correct in taking the extra care. They would be derelict not to do so.

Plus the law's changing. The Royal Commission found the law encouraged directors not to take any responsibility for health and safety. That way they couldn't be held accountable.

Precisely because they took no interest, the directors of Pike River Coal had not "participated in, contributed to, or acquiesced to" the company's repeated breaches of the Health and Safety Act. That's why they could not be charged. That's how dumb the law was.

Law changes are winding their way through Parliament. Directors and bosses are to have a positive duty placed upon them.

They will have to take responsibility for health and safety. There's now to be no dodging it. And isn't that what we should expect of the directors of our state-owned mining company?

That's especially so when we list what we already know about Pike River.

Let's see: a mine that has blown up multiple times; that has only one way in - and one way out; that has part of its roof collapsed. More could easily come down. We know it's gassy down there. It could blow again.

Oh, and the mine entrance is up a mountain and subject to bad weather. There's a lot that can go wrong with any re-entry.

I say three cheers for the bosses of Solid Energy. They are doing precisely what we would expect and what the law demands. They are taking a keen and active interest in health and safety. How we wish the directors and bosses of Pike River Coal had done likewise.