28 November 2011

Four Witnesses Called for December Pike River Royal Commission Hearings

The Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy will hear from four witnesses during its December hearings.

The December hearings will examine the role of Pike River Coal Ltd’s Board of Directors in relation to health and safety, and the health and safety systems and safety culture at the mine.

The witnesses to appear are:

• John Dow - former Chair of Pike River Coal Ltd
• Neville Rockhouse - former Pike River Coal Ltd Safety and Training Manager
• Adrian Couchman - former Pike River Coal Ltd Safety Training Coordinator
• Albert Houlden - former leading hand, McConnell Dowell Ltd

The hearings will help the Commission’s examination of the matters set out in its Phase Three List of Issues titled “What happened at Pike River?” which is available from the Commission’s website http://pikeriver.royalcommission.govt.nz/List-of-Issues.

Further Phase Three hearings will be held from Tuesday 7 February 2012.

The December hearings, held at the Greymouth District Court, Guinness Street, Greymouth are scheduled to start at 11.30am on Monday 5 December. The Commission has until Friday 16 December allocated for the hearings.

The public is welcome. Transcripts of each day’s hearings are expected to be available from http://pikeriver.royalcommission.govt.nz by 6.00pm on the day.

The hearings will be live streamed through TVNZ’s and TV3’s websites.

There are four phases to the Commission’s Inquiry: Phase One-Context, Phase Two-Search and Rescue, Phase Three-What happened at the Pike River Mine and why, and Phase Four-Policy Aspects.

ENDS

© Scoop Media