In a specially designated Pike River disaster session chaired by Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre director Professor David Cliff, six presentations outlined the lessons and research generated by the tragedy.

New Zealand Mines Rescue Service general manager Trevor Watts said the Pike River disaster would be forever remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of coal mining in New Zealand.

“The effects of this tragic event have also been felt by the mining industry in Australia,” he said.

“As an industry we are constantly aware of terms such as ‘emergency preparedness’ and ‘emergency response management plans’ and in fact, numerous seminars and forums are facilitated to study these topics in detail.

“This begs the question – how well is your organisation really prepared if it was faced with a major disaster such as that which occurred at Pike River?

“The incident management team, mine manager, mines rescue and other emergency organisations responding to the Pike River mine explosion faced significant challenges on planning a re-entry into the mine by rescue teams.”

Prior to the Pike River mine disaster, the Queensland and New South Wales mines rescue services undertook a project to develop a guideline and a practical prototype software tool to demonstrate how decision makers could be better assisted during a mine emergency which required re-entry to the mine by competent mines rescue-trained personnel.

A paper prepared by Geoffrey Nugent, Darren Brady, David Cliff and Seamus Devlin discussed the research and development of the prototype software tool (funded through Australian Coal Association Research Program grant C19010) which coincided with the events at Pike River mine.

“When an incident occurs at a mine, decision makers must demonstrate proper diligence and take reasonable precautions,” the researchers said.

“When a decision maker permits a rescuer to re-enter or remain in a mine after an incident, that person must ensure the risk to rescuers entering the mine after an incident is within acceptable limits and as low as reasonably achievable.

“The decision makers’ authorisation to re-enter the mine must be unmistakable, deliberate and well informed.

“The researchers believe that the results of this ACARP project have significant potential to assist decision makers’ to discharge their obligations during an emergency by assisting them to make well informed risk-based decisions by taking reasonable precautions and demonstrating proper diligence.”

Other topics covered included “challenges of gas monitoring in underground coal mines following an emergency” and “opportunity for re-entry into a coal mine immediately following an explosion”

Coal Mines Technical Services manager Peter Mason said while modern analytical systems, such as ultra-fast micro gas chromatographs and other quality apparatus, were able to provide consistent and reliable analytical data in laboratory environments, commonly these devices were used in temporary makeshift situations at minesites during the early stages following an emergency, where the operating environment was not always ideal.

“Attention to routine maintenance and regular calibration of the onsite systems is therefore essential in these circumstances to ensure the provision of consistent and reliable data,” he said.

In late 2009, ACARP identified the need for a broader risk management system that could carry the coal mining industry to the next level in system-wide risk management and reduction of incidents.

In response, the University of Queensland’s Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre developed a scope for such a system, Riskgate, in consultation with select coal industry representatives.

The industry participants initially identified 12 unwanted priority events for phased development to form the foundations of the current Riskgate program.

The set of events included fires, tyres, collisions, isolation, strata, hazardous substances, explosions, trips/slips/falls, manual handling, interface and displays, inrush and workplace hazards such as dust, noise and vibration.

Following the first year of research and workshops in 2011, the RISKGATE program is targeting completion of 15 topic areas identified to be of highest importance to the Australian coal industry.

Each topic is an unwanted event, not a hazard.

The 2011 program tackled an ambitious target of five topic areas, comprising fire, strata, collisions, tyres and isolation, with the strata topic now split into two as strata (underground) and ground (open cut).

In 2012, the research and development program is forecast to expand to address an additional four topic areas, followed in 2013-14 by the remaining five topics.

The Riskgate team is seeking industry experts for the 2012 program in the topic areas of explosions (methane gas), explosives, trips/slips/falls and manual handling.

Workshop participation offers benefits to individuals and the companies they represent including opportunities for networking, reflection and sharing of lessons learned, keeping abreast of current and emerging control technologies, instigating a shift in existing safety culture and elevating the accepted levels of minimum best-practice.