Pike inquiry to focus on regulation

Next phase ready to start

Recommendations for future practices will be the most crucial aspect of the royal commission’s report into the Pike River coalmine tragedy, commission chairman Justice Graham Panckhurst says.

Phase three of the inquiry into the explosion that killed 29 men finished yesterday after 22 days of hearings, spanning last November, December and this month.

They followed five weeks of first and second phase hearings last July and September.

The most recent phase focused on what happened at the underground West Coast mine, with the last eight days probing the cause of the blast on November 19, 2010.

Two Australian experts, part of a team of five employed by the Labour Department to investigate the explosion’s cause, blamed a roof collapse in the mine’s hydromining goaf, a void left when coal is extracted.

That pushed out an accumulation of explosive methane around the mine, which was ignited by an electric spark when the water pumps were turned on.

They also highlighted serious problems with the mine’s ventilation and gas monitoring.

Justice Panckhurst told

the hearing yesterday in Greymouth District Court that the commission’s focus would now change.

‘‘From now on, there will be less emphasis on looking back, the immediate cause of the explosion and the systematic issues, which may have contributed to its occurrence, in favour of a more forward-looking focus.

‘‘Really, at the end of the day, the most crucial aspect for the report will be recommendations for the future.’’

Pike families lawyer Nicholas Davidson, QC, said outside court yesterday he believed the commission’s report would have farreaching consequences, beyond coalmining and hazardous industries.

‘‘The families want a legacy of this process to be something that is going to save a lot of people’s lives in the future.’’

Phase four would look at New Zealand’s mining laws compared with overseas and policy issues, which would affect the country’s mining inspectorate, the Government and every mining company, Mr Davidson said.

‘‘They will all have a different view about the aspects of phase four as to what kind of regime we should run.’’

He believed a focus would be on harmonising mining standards within Australasia.