By Susie Nordqvist
Half a million Kiwis call Australia home and more are set to follow as the mining boom there continues.
But one Kiwi safety expert believes the influx of inexperienced workers could leave the Australian mining industry vulnerable to a Pike River disaster of its own.
Kathleen Callaghan isn't one to pull any punches.
“There is an expression that says the fish rots from its head,” says Ms Callaghan, a safety specialist.
It was November 2011 and Ms Callaghan was telling the Royal Commission what she thought of the "management culture" at Pike River.
She specialises in how human behaviour can cause errors in the workplace. She says Pike River was an "accident waiting to happen".
But could the same be true of the Australian mining industry that is luring thousands of Kiwis?
“There's new legislation; there's unprecedented growth; there's a skills shortage and they have inexperienced workers. Those four issues, each one in themselves have been identified as very much increasing vulnerability, producing of error.”
Ms Callaghan raised those very issues with the mining sector at a health safety conference in Australia this weekend.
“We want people to really understand how accidents happen and that those signs of impending doom. The signs that there's a problem are really clearly visible to people that are trained to look for those specific signs well in advance of the accident.”
In June, there were 168 serious accidents or high-risk situations recorded at Australian mines.
Each case represented a lapse in concentration, poor timing or just bad luck.
But a company that recruits Kiwis for the Australian mines says everyone gets safety training.
“There is a cost to having accidents on mine site which is prohibitive to business,” says Jason Clayton, director of the OZ Jobs Expo. “It's something that's placed in front of production. Health and safety is more important than production.”
Ms Callaghan says human error is involved in 80 to 90 percent of all workplace accidents, but defences can be put in place.
“For inexperience you might think about how you are going to have a buddy system,” she says. “How are those people going to be supervised?”
It's not a message solely for the Australian mining industry. Ms Callaghan says Kiwi workplaces aren't doing a good enough job either. Too many people are going to work and not coming home.
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