Mine Disasters in New Zealand

The Royal Commission into the Pike River disaster made comment in respect of past New Zealand mining accidents and disasters. In fact a whole chapter of the Royal Commission Report is dedicated to past disasters, it is titled a Failure to Learn (Chapter 20). Let us not make that same mistake. The price is too dear to pay.

21 February 1879	Explosion of methane at Kaitangata coal mine, Otago	34	Coronial inquest	Warnings about dangerous practices were not heeded. Insufficient gas record keeping and ventilation. Use of naked light (open lamp) despite previous detection of methane.
28 January 1900	Substantial fire at Westport-Cardiff coal mine, Mokihinui. (The mine had been closed in September 1899 due to a failure to produce marketable coal and lack of funding.)	0	Royal commission of inquiry	The explosion was the result of ignition of coal dust from ‘blown out shots fired contrary to rules of the mine, in a part of the mine where no one should have been working. Miners believed there had been an accumulation of methane and inadequate ventilation, which was not accepted by the commission.
26 March 1896	Explosion of methane and coal dust at Brunner coal mine, West Coast	65	Royal commission of inquiry	Presence of conditions supportive of spontaneous combustion. The mine as not adequately monitored. (During operation of the mine, there was inadequate ventilation and insufficient enforcement of statutory requirements.)
21 June 1907	Fire burning at Nightcaps Colliery, Southland	3	Royal Commission of Inquiry	The management of the mine was poor, there was inadequate ventilation during the shift and inadequate daily examinations. Naked lights were used instead of safety lamps and workers were not withdrawn when conditions were dangerous. There was also lax enforcement by the inspector.
12 September 1914	Explosion of methane and coal dust at Ralph’s colliery, Huntly	43	Royal Commission of Inquiry	Inadequate examinations for gas in old workings and inadequate ventilation. Naked lights were used instead of safety lamps. Failure to report injury caused by a previous explosion. Shot-ﬁring in dusty mine. The inspector failed to ensure strict and immediate compliance with recommendations, failed to require use of safety lamps and did not properly examine old workings.
3 December 1926	Explosion of coal dust at Dobson colliery, Dobson	9	Royal Commission of Inquiry	Laxity in issue of oil safety lamps. Lamps were left unattended in the mine. There was inadequate stone dusting despite the requirement by the inspector to stone dust all roads.
15 November 1929	Explosion of methane and coal dust at Linton coal mine, Ohai	3	Royal Commission of Inquiry	Inadequate ventilation, stone dusting, supervision of shot-ﬁring (which was non-compliant) and detection of contraband (matches taken underground).
24 September 1939	Fire at Glen Afton No. 1 coal mine, Huntly	11	Royal Commission of Inquiry	Fire initially caused by cigarette or naked light, not completely extinguished. Inadequate reporting at mine of ﬁre. Ventilation fan not on while men in mine.
6 November 1940	Explosion of methane at Kayes coal mine, Ten Mile Creek, Greymouth	5	Commission of inquiry	Methane ignited by worker lighting cigarette.
31 August 1955	Inrush of mud and water at Renown colliery, Huntly	1	Commission of inquiry	The majority considered the tragedy was unforeseeable in light of existing knowledge and previous experience. Management was effcient and up to accepted standard. The minority considered the accident was foreseeable. Mine manager failed to inspect the surface following a large roof fall beneath a watercourse. The deputy and underviewer were not told of the watercourse above the pillaring operation.
17 January 1958	Explosion of methane at Westhaven coal mine, Collingwood	4	Commission of inquiry	Inadequate ventilation, failure to search for contraband (matches and lighter taken underground) and failure to carry out examinations. Mine manager made untrue entries of searches and examinations and presence of ﬁfth man working the mine concealed.
19 January 1967	Explosion of methane and coal dust at Strongman coal mine, West Coast	19	Commission of inquiry	Insuﬃcient pre-shift examinations, insuﬃcient gas testing, failure to report occurrences of gas, non-compliant shotﬁring and inadequate ventilation. The district and chief inspectors had failed to take action despite being aware of dangerous practices, including the non-compliant shot-ﬁring and ventilation problems.
18 September 1985	Fire caused by spontaneous combustion at New Imperial (Boatmans No. 4) coal mine, Reefton	4	Court of inquiry	Pillaring conducted too close to return airway, failure to detect signs of spontaneous combustion due to lack of examinations, mine plans not submitted to the inspector and poor ventilation management practices – main fan not running and ventilation door connecting the intake and return was kept open. Inspector not able to make frequent inspections of mines in his area due to workload.
23 September 1992	Explosion of methane caused by spontaneous combustion at Huntly West coal mine, Waikato	0	Investigation by mines inspector	Insuﬃcient reporting to mines inspector and mines rescue service, failure to adequately extinguish ﬁre and failure to immediately withdraw workers when smoke encountered.
4 June 1998	Outburst of coal, mudstone and methane at Mount Davy coal mine, West Coast	2	Coronial inquest	Unforeseeable and unavoidable event in light of industry knowledge at the time.
8 March 2006	Inrush of water at Black Reef (Tiller) coal mine, Greymouth	1	Coronial inquest	No effective health and safety system in place, no risk assessment undertaken, inadequate information, inaccurate mine plans, the knowledge and experience of the underground manager was insufficient and no training plan was established for him, and failure to plan for possibility of inundation.
8 September 2006	Unplanned goaf fall at Roa coal mine, Blackball	1	Coronial Inquest	Manager’s support rules not followed, no strata management plan and no review of pillaring operations.
19 November 2010	Methane explosion at Pike River Mine, near Greymouth	29	Royal Commission of Inquiry	Methane explosion resulting from a roof fall in the newly started extraction panel pushing methane into the mine workings ignited by an unknown source of ignition. Mine fires resulted and 3 subsequent explosions occurred until the mine was sealed one week after the initial explosion.