Whittall wants to rebut staff criticism
Former Pike River Coal boss Peter Whittall is likely to give more evidence in his defence against criticism at the inquiry into the mining disaster.
His lawyer, Stacey Shortall, said yesterday she would advise Mr Whittall to give a new written statement in response to recent criticisms aired at the royal commission into the deaths of 29 men at Pike River in November 2010.
She told Mr Whittall, the mine’s former chief executive, last November to decline filing statements for the inquiry’s phase three hearings ‘‘in light of the Department of Labour’s charges and the extensive evidence he had already provided in writing and in appearing at the phase one and phase two hearings’’.
The department laid charges against him, Pike River Coal and a subsidiary drilling company of Valley Longwall International, in November, alleging multiple health and safety failures at the underground West Coast coalmine.
Ms Shortall said her change of heart was because Mr Whittall had been unable to defend damning evidence given by others at the phase three hearings, particularly in recent days.
A commission spokeswoman confirmed the commissioners had decided against calling Mr Whittall to appear at the phase three hearings because he had declined filing further written evidence.
This week, Mr Whittall’s character was attacked in a flurry of scathing emails and comments at the inquiry in Greymouth District Court.
Yesterday, Ms Shortall told the hearing that Mr Whittall had been devastated to learn of revelations aired on Wednesday that the mine’s former general manager Doug White emailed a friend three days before the blast, calling Whittall a ‘‘git’’ and a liar.
Ms Shortall called the emails ‘‘poor-taste banter’’ and highlighted other profane comments made in the exchange about other people.
She defended the mine’s ventilation and gas monitoring, which had been criticised over the past seven days, saying it had 11 machine-mounted methane sensors plus six on other equipment underground when the mine exploded. and-held gas detectors were also used by mine deputies and leading hands, she said.
Yesterday, the final witness for the phase three hearing, Pike River Coal former technical services manager Pieter Van Rooyen, said the company’s financial pressures forced the location and size of hydromining.
Last week, the inquiry heard the blast was blamed on a roof collapse in the hydro-mining goaf, a void left when coal is extracted, pushing out an accumulation of explosive methane gas around the mine, which was ignited by a spark.
Mr Van Rooyen, a qualified geologist from South Africa, started work at Pike in February 2009 and left 16 days before the mine exploded. He resigned over long working hours, but stressed he did not leave because of safety concerns.
The mine began hydro-mining two months before the fatal blast, with Mr Van Rooyen and others involved in determining its position.
He would have preferred hydromining was in an area with lower methane levels, but coal extraction was needed closer in the mine ‘‘for cashflow purposes’’.
It would have been better to delay hydro-mining until the main ventilation fan was commissioned to ensure proper ventilation in the area, but that was decided by others, he said.
The phase three hearing was scheduled to finish today but the inquiry’s final phase, a comparison of New Zealand’s mining laws with international practice, will resume in April.