Pike River Recovery Agency to create a ‘beacon’ for better health and safety

Any re-entry of the Pike River mine should be a beacon for health and safety in New Zealand, the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum says.

Acknowledging the launch of the Pike River Recovery Agency today, Forum Executive Director Francois Barton said that improved health and safety standards were an important legacy of the Pike disaster.

“The Health and Safety at Work Act offers workers protections that weren’t there for the men killed at Pike,” Mr Barton says. “The new agency provides an important opportunity for these protections to be underlined, not undermined.”

The Forum welcomes the Government’s commitment to a safe entry into the mine drift within the rules of the HSW Act.

“Government’s commitment signals that good health and safety is not about stopping things happening, rather it is about enabling things to happen in the right way.”

“The new agency has an opportunity to make any re-entry of Pike River mine a beacon for health and safety, and this is an important legacy of the Pike disaster.”

About the Forum

The Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum was set up to inspire and support CEOs and Managing Directors to become better leaders of health and safety in their businesses and contracting chains. The Forum has more than 300 members, all leaders of large businesses or businesses operating in high risk industries. For more information visit www.zeroharm.org.nz.

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