According to a provincial official, mine safety laws need to be updated to keep up with current trends and practices.
This was said by Levi Mano, the deputy administrator of East New Britain, at the beginning of a consultation forum for the New Guinea Islands area on the mine and works on safety and health bill 2021, which includes the Mine Safety Act (1977) in Kokopo.
The Department of Mineral Policy and Geohazards Management hosted the one-day consultation conference.
According to Mano, the extractive industry has become more complex and diverse, necessitating the incorporation of legislative changes.
“We are in the equator and we are also vulnerable to the environment and there are certain things engineers do not expect things to happen but it happens also,” Mano said.
“We have not experienced any major disaster in mining here in PNG apart from minor ones like from what we have been hearing from the other parts of the world.
“We don’t want to wait for that time to happen when hundreds of people should be trapped in the cave of whatever operation that we have.
“I think we are always proactive and, therefore, I want to say thank you to the department team for taking some yard steps in making sure that we properly legislate for safety in all our mines in our country.”
Mano believes that it is the appropriate moment to draft legislation to safeguard ourselves, the environment, and infrastructure.
The state team, which comprised the Department of Provincial Affairs, State Solicitors, Department of Labour, and legal officials within the department, was in charge of the consultation forum, which was led by the acting secretary of the department.
Reference:
The National (13 July 2021). “Review safety regulations to keep up with trend: Mano”.
