Pike River realities surface . . .

At Twitter:

New Pike River mine footage 'extraordinary and alarming' https://t.co/znH2ARoJWt'

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) April 30, 2017

****

Video at ODT Online:

The father of one of the men killed in the Pike River mining disaster says the families have always believed the Government wasn’t telling the truth about mine safety.

Mon, 1 May 2017
ODT: Pike video shows men in mine after blast
The Government has long said high concentrations of methane inside the mine make it too risky to re-enter to retrieve the bodies of the 29 men killed in the November 2010 blast, because the gas could explode. But footage leaked to Newshub yesterday showed two Mines Rescue workers inside the mine three months after the explosion, with no gloves, apparently relaxed as they fashioned a makeshift cover for a robot out of cardboard and tape. The robot is seen to be steaming or smoking well inside the mine, but the workers do not panic – and nothing explodes. Bernie Monk, whose son Michael was killed in the November 2010 explosion in the West Coast coal mine, said the newly leaked footage did not come as a surprise. Cont/

****

At Twitter:

Never-before-seen footage from a robot inside Pike River shows men working, smoke or steam emitting from the robot https://t.co/4ST8LcktZc pic.twitter.com/cjo5rLWgxo

— Newshub Breaking (@NewshubBreaking) April 30, 2017

Incredible footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel from March 2011 showing two men inside + a smokey robot https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/8yKQKhvS51

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

This is the loader Russell Smith was driving when Pike River exploded. He was 1570m up mine's access tunnel https://t.co/7VUmbPGsXq pic.twitter.com/V7wIvAWHVe

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

Here's the raw new footage from inside Pike River's access tunnel, which shows two Mines Rescue staff calmly working https://t.co/RUw0tWuZ4o

— Newshub Politics (@NewshubPolitics) April 30, 2017

.@pmbillenglish says he didn't know about the existence of Pike River footage released by Newshub https://t.co/zQnuN02Szd

— Newshub (@NewshubNZ) April 30, 2017

.@RadioLIVENZ's @SAINSO: PM Bill English needs to grow a pair over Pike River https://t.co/dh88rP5DtZ pic.twitter.com/6QoQV6LHLK

— Newshub Features (@NewshubFeatures) April 30, 2017

****

nzherald.co.nz Uploaded on Nov 23, 2010
Raw video: Robot camera inside Pike River mine
First pictures from inside the Pike River mine which show the miner’s helmet and mine damage.

Business Leaders’ Health & Safety Forum Published on Oct 21, 2013
Case Study: Pike River
View the full case study here:
http://www.zeroharm.org.nz/leadership/case-studies/pike-river/

Graeme Axford Published on Oct 31, 2014
Pike River families believe photos show bodies
Friday 31 Oct 2014 8:06 p.m.
It is understood that a decision from Solid Energy on whether it will allow recovery teams to re-enter the drift of the Pike River mine is imminent. The drift is not the mine itself, but the two-kilometre tunnel that leads to the mine.
Families of the victims are desperate for a mission to collect evidence and to see if there are any bodies in the drift.
They say if Solid Energy won’t do it, they will. They say they know there are bodies in the mine, and tonight, with their blessing and for the first time, we can show you their evidence. Dean Dunbar, the father of lost miner Joseph Dunbar, spoke with Campbell Live producer Kate McCallum. Watch the full interview with Dean Dunbar.

Division of Humanities, University of Otago Published on Jul 4, 2016
███ Pike River – How could this happen in this day and age?
Colin Smith, Chairman on the Pike River Families Group Committee and the Pike River 29 Legacy Trust, talks about the Pike River disaster and asks ‘how could this happen in this day and age’? Find out why the Pike River Families have fought so hard and for so long. Colin Smith is a law graduate from the University of Otago and is a partner with the Greymouth Law Firm Hannan & Seddon.

RNZ Published on Jan 23, 2017
Pike River survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes it’s safe to enter: RNZ Checkpoint
Pike River mine survivor Daniel Rockhouse believes the mine’s drift is safe to enter, and is willing to be among the first party that goes in.

****

davedobbynmusic Published on Dec 15, 2014
Dave Dobbyn – This Love (Live Perfomance)
‘This Love’ by Dave Dobbyn with the Orpheus Choir of Wellington is a moving tribute to the 29 men who died in the Pike River Mine explosion.
The piece was first performed at a concert attended by members of the miners’ bereaved families and was recorded by Radio NZ Concert. The choral arrangement is by Mark Dorrell. Also performing are Wellington Young Voices, Mark Vanilau (piano), Jo Barus (bass), Ross Burge (drums) and Chris Clark (cornet). With special thanks to TVNZ and Satellite Media – taken from the TVNZ documentary ‘Dreams Lie Deeper’.

—

Related Post and Comments:
24.1.13 Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Aurora/Delta can’t be trusted on dangerous poles —some reasons why

Primed to FAIL.

Richard Healey reveals the dreadful reality of Aurora’s fast-track pole replacement program to be rolled out by Delta and other crews, with little regard for workplace safety —or public safety.

In a frightening note posted at Facebook tonight, Richard says:

“So what are we looking at? A divided workforce, where there is an us and them culture, with many off network workers, [led] by people, some of them with little or no leadership experience, who don’t have skills managing multiple teams or complex projects, working on a decayed asset, much of which has been mysteriously upgraded by some backroom process, presided over by a group of people with a vested interest in covering up mistakes and aiming for an unachievable target in a pressure cooker environment, for a company with two convictions for unsafe work practices in the last seven years?

Surely not – that sounds like Pike River Coal Ltd. But maybe if you have no background in the industry, and your previous job involved dodging bombs and bullets, it all sounds pretty reasonable?”

—

Please read the whole note, and click on each of the links Richard provides:

Good news! Delta plan to have all the condition zero poles replaced by April 30th.
Richard Healey · Monday, 30 January 2017
The bad news? I think the chances of a serious injury, or a death, are extraordinarily high.

Why? Let me count the reasons:

In the last 20 years, the largest number of replacement zero or one poles Delta has achieved in a year is around 400. Don’t believe the bollocks that Grady Cameron comes out with about Delta having “replaced” thousands of poles in the last two years. Here’s a clip from their website.

“Aurora Energy has replaced 1,670 poles in the past two years, of which 802 were either condition 0 and 1. We have already replaced 155 poles in the first four months of this year”.

Just how thick do you think the people of Otago are? From September 2014 to September 2016 Delta’s own GIS system shows 1528 poles installed, for all reasons. Many of those poles were new installs, most for new irrigation load – they were not replacements.

But let’s look at the sterling work you have done in the “first four months of this year” – 155 poles! That works out to 465 for a whole year, hmmm… that would be about half the number of poles that you claim to have replaced in each of the previous two years!

So let’s get this straight, you are claiming that in the last four months your replacement program has halved in speed? But now, miraculously, you are going to replace more than 1000 condition zero poles in a couple of months? So an increase in the rate of replacement of around 1300% – thirteen times the rate of replacement that you are achieving now. Bugger it, let’s be generous, let’s say that by some miracle you kick all this off tomorrow and have three months to finish, that would be an 860% increase in the speed of replacement.

So how is this sleight of hand to be performed? Well, more crews. That’s got to be good right?

Continues….

█ https://www.facebook.com/notes/richard-healey/good-news-delta-plan-to-have-all-the-condition-zero-poles-replaced-by-april-30th/10156057154724848

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

NZ journalism, Ean Higgins got it in one #knowwhatwethinkofGerry

Come back Ean Higgins, too true — ALL IS FORGIVEN !!!!!

Journalist Ean Higgins of The Australian newspaper asks a question during a media briefing [zimbio.com]

—

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 07:47 27/07/2014
Brownlee lashes ‘tosspot’ journalist
By Steve Kilgallon and Neil Reid
The Australian journalist who fled New Zealand after being labelled a “boorish tosspot” by National minister Gerry Brownlee for his insensitive approach to the Pike River mine disaster has declared it the finest moment of his career. Brownlee, however, has told the Sunday Star-Times that Ean Higgins remained a tosser, but had also proven himself a fantasist and an “obnoxious twerp”.
[…] Higgins’ self-congratulatory essay about his brief Pike River coverage was certainly inflammatory.

He called New Zealand “a small, meek and mild democracy” and said: “The New Zealand journalists didn’t ask any uncomfortable questions, being happy to accept whatever the police, the company and the miners’ rescue people told them . . . the Australian journalists, coming from a more robust tradition . . . did ask the tough questions”.

He describes the two groups of journalists dining separately in “the only good restaurant” in Greymouth and the Aussies deciding “we were really going to get stuck into the company and the authorities and show the Kiwis real journalism and workshopped a few really brutal questions”.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comment:
1.8.13 Politicians keeping DIA/SFO quiet on ORFU and TTCF #pokierorts
7.6.13 Peter Dunne, undone
7.2.13 DIA not releasing report #ORFU #NZRU #pokierorts
24.1.13 Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness
13.11.12 Martin Legge replies to Sunday Star-Times story #DIA #coverup

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Pike River, Department of Internal Affairs #skippingthebusiness

Comment received.

Martin Legge
January 14, 2013 at 8:57 am

Spare a thought for all the Pike River victims and their families.

Maarten Quivooy was the National Safety Manager at Dept of Labour at the time of the Pike River tragedy and during the commission of enquiry that followed which resulted in DOL Management being heavily criticised. As we now know, Quivooy, like a rat off a sinking ship, left the DOL before the Commission made its findings public.

Quivooy grabbed the top Gambling Compliance job at DIA ahead of an incumbent. In light of this it would be interesting to read his CV, his references from DOL and hear his responses given to the DIA selection panel – “Maarten can you please outline your achievements with the DOL”

Quivooy is all hat and no cowboy!!!

—

Related Posts and Comments:
30.12.12 Internal Affairs is a whole other planet #whitecollarcrime #DIArorts
18.11.12 Martin Legge: DIA audit criticism #pokierorts #coverup
13.11.12 Martin Legge replies to Sunday Star-Times story #DIA #coverup
26.10.12 Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) – CULPABLE #pokierorts
3.10.12 DScene: Russell Garbutt seeks DIA file to Crown Law #PokieRorts
27.8.12 DIA’s political cover-up of TTCF and ORFU rorts
12.8.12 DIA reshuffle: new investigation teams, money laundering, criticism
25.7.12 Martin Legge backgrounds TTCF (pokie trust) and Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts #DIA
15.7.12 Martin Legge responds to media stories on Murray Acklin, TTCF and DIA
26.5.12 DIA media release
22.4.12 DIA, OAG, TTCF and Otago Rugby swim below the line

Use the search box at right to find more items connected to professional rugby, pokie rorts, TTCF, ORFU and DCC.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr