Little considers health and safety waiver for Pike River mine re-entry
Andrew Little says the Government may waive health and safety laws for a manned re-entry to Pike River.
Little, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry, made the comments yesterday on Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report.
He said he would meet in the next week with families of those who died in the 2010 Pike River mine disaster.
‘‘It’s really just to hear from them about their expectations, consider some of the advice, the technical advice that they have received, share some of the advice that the Government has, and then start to work out what a plan looks like about trying to get manned reentry.’’
Little said there were risks to manned re-entry, which he hoped could happen in March or April 2018.
‘‘The advice I’ve got all the way through says a manned entry is technically feasible,’’ he said.
Coal producer Solid Energy owns the mine, but has been in voluntary administration since August 2015 and is preparing to close down.
Little said the Government would likely create a new entity to manage the re-entry.
He said an independent third party could be made responsible for the operations, but he was prepared to take responsibility himself.
‘‘My inclination is actually this is a political matter… actually a Minister should take responsibility for it.’’
Little said the Government would likely pass legislation to create the entity.
He said he wanted to mitigate all the risks if possible, but if necessary the Government would consider passing laws exempting the new entity from health and safety laws to allow re-entry – something Little proposed when Labour was in opposition.
Little said he considered the health and safety stance Solid Energy took regarding re-entry was ‘‘unreasonable’’.
‘‘These families were promised that everything that could possibly be done would be done.’’