It is not enough to ‘remember’. ‘Hand wringing’ alone is meaningless. Action is required. Action to bring to heel the unacceptable injury, illness and death statistics that persist within the NZ workplace. Action to implement effective systematic proactive heath and safety intervention by workers, employers and regulators. Action to bring to a conclusion the Pike River Police Investigation. It’s been over 13 years since these men and boys were killed! How long must families wait? Inaction within the NZ ‘establishment’ to pursue accountability for the Pike River disaster ensures that those responsible are not held to account and the refusal of successive NZ governments to reenter the mine, recover the main fan site and repatriate the bodies, even when in 2021 the ‘Families’ independent technical assessment group (ITAG) presented a comprehensive mine recovery plan, ensures that the 29 miners families are denied the most basic human right to bury their dead. I have been privileged to see the inner mine workings. The mine was not the inferno reported. The men lie when they fell. We know where they are. The roadways have not collapsed and the fall at the end of the Drift is recoverable. We will not forget. But will we see Action?
I’m sure you remember the Pike River NZ meltdown in 2010 where 29 men were killed. The mine was “awash with information foretelling catastrophe, but all those who had the power to act on the warning signs were deaf and blind to them.” The ‘Tragedy of Pike River Mine’ by Rebecca Mackie is strongly recommended reading for anyone with any responsibility (or even interest) in making sure no one dies at work. It’s a detailed and grizzly wake-up call to take the red flags seriously, no matter where they arise. We owe it to those who died, as well as to those who go underground today and tonight, to keep learning these lessons together. And most importantly, to never assume we are all over it. Get cocky, fall over.
Brian Robinson
6mo
Well said, every word you’ve put is the truth.
O normal é pensar que NUNCA ACONTECE, lamentavelmente quando acontece são ceifadas vidas
I read up about this case. It is horror after horror. Like so many of these 'Black Swan Events' (events that appear remote) It was actually layer upon layer of management failings. So sad.
Sergio Tuñón
6mo
In mining too... No Man Left Behind. ⚒️
Safety from the Inside Out
6moWhoah!! That’s full on Tony! I didn’t know this. So disturbing, on so many levels :(