The fine is well short of the maximum $250,000 as Judge Jane Farish found the only link between the admitted offences and the 2010 mine explosion that killed 29 miners was that the explosions were the catalyst for a detailed analysis and investigation of procedures at the mine.
It was that process which led to the charges.
The case has drawn attention to the responsibility of contractors to ensure their mine operator clients adhere to statutory health and safety standards for contracted equipment used onsite.
In a statement after the judgement, VLI chief executive Brett Lynch said global best practice recognised that the mine operator must be solely responsible for making the mine safe, including undertaking all relevant inspections.
“The charges brought against us related to our failure to have implemented a procedure to prevent operation of our drill rig if Pike River Coal had not conducted regular electrical and gas sensor inspections of our rig as part of its mine safety management responsibilities,” he said.
“Industry standards required PRC to withdraw our rig from service if it had not passed inspection.
“In its prosecution of us, the Department of Labour acknowledged that our failure caused no actual harm and could not causally be linked to the tragic explosions at the Pike River mine.”
In the wake of the explosions, VLI’s own investigation confirmed it was not required by industry standards or practice to verify any mine operator’s performance of its mine safety management responsibilities, Lynch said.
“We explored and eventually established a reasonably practicable step to prevent operation of our rig without that verification,” he said.
“That practicable step is our innovation in mine safety management.
“It relies wholly on the collaboration of the relevant mine operator and, to the best of our knowledge, did not previously exist in any mine safety regulation or standard or operate in any coal mine in the world.
“We are now discussing the additional measure with our mine operators.”
In an affidavit to the court independent mine safety expert James Joy stated that “the immediacy of the defendant’s proposed procedures makes them as reasonably practicable as the defendant could hope to achieve, even although contingent on the mine operator’s participation”
Joy warned that VLI’s proposed procedure “must not detract from the mine’s responsibility for the overall health and safety management, including routine effective testing and inspections of critical controls, such as gas monitoring equipment, in an underground coal mine”
The initial response from mine operators to VLI’s desire for more visibility over safety checks of its machinery had been positive, Lynch said.
“Time will tell whether VLI’s proposed procedure will enhance safety and be adopted by regulators and mine operators,” he said.
“We look forward to working with mine operators and all relevant parties to test the efficacy of our initiative.”
