A mining expert says a recent methane gas scare at a Waikato mine shows the industry still has a long way to go in improving safety standards.
High levels of the explosive gas were detected at the Huntly East Mine earlier this month.
The issue only emerged when a whistleblower went to Bernie Monk, who lost his son in the Pike River disaster.
Expert David Feickert says that alone shows there are communication problems within the industry.
He says action taken by the Government following the Pike River tragedy has not filtered down yet.
“It goes some way to re-establish what we had in the 1990s, so that’s a good decision. But there’s no change on the ground yet.”
The Labour Department has since told Solid Energy to make improvements to ventilation at the mine.
RadioLive