The former Mining Inspection Group did such a good job preventing accidents that successive governments forgot how dangerous the mining and quarrying industries were, writes Tom Reece. Then it was phased out.

Isn't it comforting to know that the Prime Minister has his finger "on the pulse" and is working with the mining and quarrying industries to enhance the safety records of those industries?

Wouldn't it have been more comforting to those families who have lost menfolk to accidents if his government (and others) had not changed the rules in the first place? An action that has progressively led to the current situation. Throwing the baby out with the bath water was not the answer.

In the early to mid 1990s, the regulations for these industries were enforced by the Mining Inspection Group (MIG). This was a group of around 10 to 12 mines and quarry inspectors who visited the sites regularly and enforced regulatory safety standards.

They were a powerful group and they were rigorous in their safety enforcement. As a result the accidents were so negligible that successive governments forgot what dangerous industries these really were.

The Inspectors often made life difficult for the companies as many commercial decisions had to be passed in front of the requisite inspector before the job could be done. This put the Inspectors in the position of quasi-managers, something that was becoming a real problem to the managers of sites and the industry as a whole.

Inspectors were also responsible for examining and promoting those who were required to hold a Regulatory Certificate, or Certificate of Competence (COC).

The Government made the decision to phase out MIG. The decision for this was mainly a financial one. In large part, MIG was its own worst enemy – it had been too successful and those responsible for making funding decisions couldn't see that the expense was worth it. Few men had died under MIG's watch so the dangers of the industries had dropped below the horizon.

MIG was disbanded and its functions, less the issuing of COCs was handed over to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). MIG's dedicated Inspectors were no more. OSH would cover these industries under its own general Inspectors.

At about this time EXITO came into existence. It was a grouping of the Aggregate and Quarry Association (AQA), mainly a group representing managers and owners; the Institute of Quarrying (IOQ), part of the International IOQ representing in the main, quarry personnel; the Coal Association NZ; the NZ Mineral Industry Association and a Mining Industry Union representative who was also on the board of the Mines Rescue Trust.

All in all, a very good cross representation of the mining and quarrying industries.

As with all industry training organisations, it was based on the the New Zealand Qualification Authority's unit standards. These had been developed by the industry for the industry, and through EXITO, to be run by the industry. Under the Tertiary Education Commission, EXITO came into existence.

One of the early functions of EXITO was to work with the industry to secure a new avenue of promotion for Certificates of Competence, given that MIG was to shortly depart.

The COCs were based on sets of unit standards. Many of the previous inspectors from MIG qualified as assessors for EXITO, albeit under a different administration and the new philosophy that was presented under the National Qualifications' Framework, one based on competency.

EXITO was embraced by its various industries and expanded rapidly. The late Don Ladner, who was the chief executive of Mines Rescue Trust, said during this period the skill level of miners had risen to the highest level that he had ever known it to be.

EXITO was actively working with Pike River Mining and Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth during its early mine development activities. It was active with hundreds of quarrying and mining companies. Productivity training, COC training, safety training and succession planning training were all at a very high level.

By 2007, when I retired, EXITO had around 6500 trainees on its books. This is not large in ITO terms but it was a very successful ITO with dedicated support from and to its constituents.

Enter stage right, Minister Steven Joyce, whose motto seems to be, ``If it's small, merge it. If it's already merged, merge it again!" Save money!

In a speech to ITOs, Minister Joyce stated he wanted fewer ITOs. This was his answer – he never actually told us what the question was. Around four years later, EXITO no longer existed. It was gone and with it all of its resources, expertise and institutional knowledge built up over those 15 or so years.

Much has been made recently of WorkSafe not knowing where all the quarries are in New Zealand. EXITO knew. EXITO had conducted research around 2005-06 and found about 2300 quarry sites across New Zealand. Of these, approximately 850 were active at any one time.

Any government department, association, or company that wanted the list was given it – free of charge.

I suspect that EXITO was a victim of the minister's quest for "big is better", with a better dollar value ascribed to their existence. Gone was the board of people dedicated to their own industry. Gone was the wealth of resources and personnel that meant these industries were intimately involved in all aspects of meeting their own needs and training.

It seems that, to Government, dollars are so much more important. I think it is the reason why too many good men have had to die.

If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it most likely is a duck. So Minister Joyce, what do you call your policy that is waddling down the corridors in the Beehive?

Tom Reece was formerly chief executive officer of the Extractive Industries Training Organisation (EXITO). He retired in 2007.