Mine mishaps blamed on workers, unstable roofs

Press, 27 September 1982, Page 10

Mine mishaps blamed on workers, unstable roofs

PA Hamilton < An influx of inexperienced I miners and unstable mine i roofs have been blamed for the Huntly West coal mine’s high accident rate. t Although the Liverpool j mine on the West Coast had the country’s highest mine 1 accident rate — 13.4 per ( 10,000 manshifts — in 1982, 1 Huntly West’s accident rate 1

came in for special mention -1 in the recently-released Gov- 1 ernment energy’report. ( The report said the mine’s 12.2 accidents per 10,000 I manshifts was “a cause for i

concern" and action will be taken by management and workers to reduce the figure. The mine accident rate for the whole country was eight per 10,000 manshifts. The Waikato Miners’ Union’s president, Mr Rowan Calcott, who works in the Huntly West mine, said roof falls, pieces of rock flying ■from machinery, and heavy lifting were common causes of injury in the mine. “We are having trouble holding our roofs. That puts more pressure on the work

and things can go wrong," ht said. State Coal Mines regional manager, Mr Rex Duggan said a safety committee had been set up recently at the West mine to investigate accidents and suggest methods of stopping them. "There has been quite an influx of relatively inexperienced men underground in the last year and it’s not unusual for inexperienced men to have a spate of small accidents until they get used to their surroundings," he said.