RSHQ Inspector Brown has to issue Section 154 Document Production Notices to get the Expert Technical Reports. SSE says it will take a week to produce it for you. Moranbah North MRE 11th March
This is also the day when RSHQ Inspectors Nugent, Atkinson as well as the RSHQ Forensic Fire Investigator Consultant Nystrom are all on the stand at the Grosvenor Inquiry in Brisbane
The Section 167 Directive issued by Inspector Brown on the 21st of February states that there is
“a suspension of re-entry into the Moranbah North mine until such time as the SSE can demonstrate an acceptable level of risk.
Here we are 3 weeks after the event and Anglo are refusing to voluntarily hand over any of the Technical Expert Reports either to the Investigating Inspector or their own Underground Production and Engineering Workers, including the ERZC’s (Mine Section Deputies).
Understandably there is a high level of concern held by Coal Mine Workers about what has occurred as well as understanding the mechanism that produced the overpressure.
A significant concern of the coal mine workers is also about having all available evidence accessible to the risk assessment team, currently two of the reports are withheld through legal privilege and a short summary of this information has only so far been provided to the risk assessment team. The discussion extended over an hour and was constructive as well as helpful for myself as the Lead Investigator.
Inspector Brown explained the purpose of the meeting was to discuss a number of matters both involving the Directive as well as his Investigation.
- We discussed the timeline the SSE would require for when I provided a s154 Document Production Requirement notices for the SHMS and separately the Technical Expert reports relevant to the Incident 20/02/21. The SSE believes the SHMS notice would reasonably take 1 week to provide and the Technical Expert reports be available by Tuesday 16/03/21.
The Moranbah North SSE cannot be serious surely. He has to be pulling the piss to see how much he can get away with, surely!
All the Management on the multiple Risk Assessments taking place would all have read the full electronic Technical Expert Reports, both internal and external.
The same Management then go and produce an electronic self edited Summary to their actual underground workforce and tell their workers “Trust Anglo” we would never withhold anything we think you should know”
Why cannot the SSE or their delegate just go to the nearest computer, print the Expert Reports out, while loading it all onto a thumb drive?
Obviously the SSE has his reasons why he refuses to do so.
Anglo would not want to get the authors of the Technical Reports to change the existing content would they.
After all what could they be worried about?
Would Anglo Corporate be secretly worried that producing any of these Expert Reports while the Grosvenor Inquiry might backfire on their carefully crafted defense that Grosvenor was all just an unforeseeable Act of God?
But Anglo are doubling down and still absolutely refusing to give these Expert Reports to their Production and Engineering Workers
- We discussed the progress to date with the re-entry risk assessment and the non consensus matters raised from this process. We have discussed the matter of the Technical Expert reports being made available to the Risk Assessment team previously, this will need to be addressed to ensure the validity of the risk assessment is maintained.
This is where the whole mindset of Anglo just baffles me.
The SSE, Anglo Corporate and no doubt their Legal Representatives have decided that the Expert Technical Reports are Top Secret Management Eyes Only
Inspector Brown is warning them that Anglo is fundamentally undermining the whole Mine Re-Entry Risk Management Process and doing so means that the SSE will not be able to demonstrate an acceptable level of risk.
Anglo are therefore deliberately delaying returning Underground to the Coal Mine after an uncontrolled spontaneous combustion occurred 3 weeks ago, just so they can keep these Expert Technical Reports Confidential.
Why?
Then Inspector Brown gets to the other reason for being on the Moranbah North Mine Site sampling for particulate matter at the gas wells looking for signs of charcoal etc.
I informed the SSE and the management team present of my intention to conduct physical sampling for particulate matter at each of the goaf wells S0869, S0868, S0867, and S0866 where Carbon Monoxide and Ethylene presented to after the overpressure occurred on the 20/02/21.
The SSE and Management Team find the whole process is so daunting and require so much time that it is impossible to do that day due to Fatigue Policies
We discussed the risk management process the site would be required to undertake for this task to occur. At the time of the meeting it was still to be established when the task of sampling would occur. In the afternoon of 11/03/21, I discussed this again with MrXXXX It was agreed the sampling would be delayed until Monday 15/03/21 due to the necessity of fatigue management breaks required for staff involved in the task.
Why didn’t Anglo do the same particulate testing 3 weeks ago?
All those Anglo internal and external Technical Experts must have thought of this weeks ago surely.
Inspector Brown then details how for 6 days there has been problems with Power Underground and how the gas monitoring system underground has been heavily impacted and compromised since the 5th of March
I then discussed the sites environmental monitoring system status with technical services personnel.
The site had a power outage 5/03/21 resulting in loss of power underground, while power could be restored to both pit bottom locations it still impacted on maintaining real time (RT) monitoring, this was due to inability to restore power to further Nerz/Nerz interfaces. At this point in time while some RT gas and velocity stations are down and have no further UPS supply, there are still a number of RT points live and the Tube Bundle system is still active, more tube bundle points have also been added since the mobile SIMTARS lab arrival to site.
The still overwhelming question is why the CIOCM Peter Newman, Mark Stone the CEO of RSHQ and their legal representatives at The Grosvenor Inquiry never ever raise any of this at the Ministerial Board of Inquiry into the Explosion at the Anglo Grosvenor Mine in May 2020
