Pike River Mine Crisis Communications Examined

The Pike River mining disaster occurred on Friday 19 November, 2010 when an explosion trapped 29 workers inside the mine. Rescue attempts were delayed due to the risk of another explosion. Over the next 9 days, the mine suffered 3 more explosions. It was clear that there would be no survivors.

In the aftermath of this tragic event, the Pike River Mine company has come under fire. It is alleged that safety standards were not up to scratch, especially compared to Australian mining standards. Many believe the ventilation systems within the mine were not capable of dealing with the excessive drilling that was going on and there was no suitable ‘secondary exit’ as is required. Pike River Mine was experiencing very serious financial issues, including a desperate bid to a major shareholder asking $70 million, coinciding with the explosions. The company has since gone into receivership.
Peter Whittall, Chief Executive of Pike River Mine, was the face of the company and is now the face of disaster.

Throughout the process, unsuspecting members of the Greymouth community have been elevated to hero status by the media. One of them is Greymouth District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, who has been struggling with the public attention he has received since tirelessly working to get the town back on its feet. He is heavily involved with the Pike River Fund, which has raised more than $7 million - most of which will go to the victim’s families.
Media releases published under the name and contact details of Mr. Kokshoorn himself have kept everyone up-to-date with how much money has been raised, what it is being used for and what fundraising initiatives are being planned. With his own cellphone number at the bottom of the release, Mr. Kokshoorn has made himself extremely accessible to those with enquiries – good or bad.

This open and honest approach seems to be what has won him so many fans, and whether this is down to proficient media training or he is just genuinely passionate for the cause is still up for debate.

If Tony Kokshoorn, face of the town and people who are the victims, is the chosen hero of the media then who is the villain? Initially, the owners and upper management of the mine itself were to blame. But it seems to have had a flow on effect where the Department of Conservation had overlooked issues, then New Zealand Mining Standards were to blame and now it seems the stance to take is that mining in general is the problem.

With the continual disasters in Christchurch hot on the heels of the mine explosion, it seemed that Pike River scapegoat Peter Whittall had been eclipsed by a whole new media frenzy. But with the re-opening of the inquest he is back under the spotlight again.

The Pike River fund has strengthened it’s credibility by no longer accepting donations, as they would prefer it went to the quake victims. What have Pike River Mining and Peter Whittall done to salvage their reputation? Since the company went into receivership they seem to have been noticeably absent as a voice in the media, aside from quotes relating to the inquest that would have been extracted by the media with or without a fight.

Hotelier Bernie Monk lost his son in the Pike River explosions and is also the Spokesman for families of the Pike River victims. On their behalf, he has expressed dissatisfaction with the communication between Pike River Mine and the affected. Significant news and developments have often been broken to these families by the media, rather than representatives of the mine. Mr. Monk believes this isn’t good enough and the lines of communication need to be more open. They should be getting the news first hand, straight away.

One of the major grievances from the grief-stricken families was when they received updates about the lack of mining safety standards and quality inspections ‘secondhand’ via various media.

Now Mr. Monk’s number one priority is to get to the truth of what happened. He says the inquest has made significant progress into answering this. He also believes the commissioners leading the process will come to the right conclusions, bringing the case to a satisfactory close – much to the relief of Greymouth residents.

Can budget or time restraints be to blame for the Pike River Mine’s lack of Crisis Management action? One would think it would be very high on their priority list. It needn’t have been hugely expensive. After initially seeking some professional media training and advice, an appropriate spokesperson could have been selected as the ‘face of the campaign’ and creating a more open and honest image for the company. By using social media channels regularly and RSS feeds, they would have been able to get their message across to the public and any skeptics – for free.

The official “Supporting the Pike River miners” page has 139,386. It is filled with tributes from fans and filled with constant updates and coverage of the inquest – all with positive feedback. A “Support for Tony Kokshoorn-Greymouth Mayor” Facebook fan page has 968 fans and yet more positive feedback.

At least 4 pages “Supporting Peter Whittall” have sprung up on Facebook. Combined, these pages have attracted over 26,000 fans in total. But judging by a very mixed bag of comments, it is hard to tell who is genuinely supportive and who is just there to throw a jibe at him. But the common thread seems to be the strong desire for a resolution and to bring the inquest to a satisfactory close.

Pike River Mine’s obvious lack of voice within in the media has done nothing to help their case. It only succeeds in helping to validate the claims and accusations against them. If there was more substance to their claims of innocence their voice most likely would have been far louder. They needed to take a stronger stance from the beginning, claiming responsibility and resisting the urge to play the blame game. By accepting the consequences of their actions early on, they could have then got on and did all they could to make amends, rather than trying to relinquish responsibility with excuses such as receivership.

Accidents do happen. They can’t always be prevented. It’s what we do in the wake of these scenarios that really counts. If the Greymouth Mayor was able to raise $7 million dollars for relief around all his regular duties, Peter Whittall and his Pike River buddies definitely were capable of something on a similar scale.
By Bridget Bisset

Pike River: The Darkest Hour

“To all those who have lost a loved one in the Pike River mine let me say: New Zealand stands shoulder to shoulder with you. Though we can not possibly feel this pain as you do, we have you in our hearts and our thoughts.”

– Prime Minister, Hon John Key’s address following the second explosion, November 24th 2010

I think it’s safe to say, time truly has stood still over the past few weeks as this tragedy unravelled in front of us. I’ve been through Greymouth and one of the things I still remember about it was that it was such a small community. I can only imagine the pain they are feeling right now, and as Mayor Kokshoorn said, it is indeed the town’s darkest hour.

I have and continue to pay close attention to the crisis communications of the Police and the CEO Peter Whittall as they have grappled to find answers to questions they never thought they’d hear. They have a long and difficult road ahead with the recovery process and the Royal Commission of Inquiry, and the rest of New Zealand waits in anticipation.

During the many press conferences held over those first few trying days, many hard questions were asked – and as the days continued, they became even harder. Superintendant, Gary Knowles was asked to compare the World Trade Centre’s terrorist attacks to the mining disaster, right before a journalist posed the question as to why he was organising everything when he was just a ‘local country cop’.

Not all journalists are like this though – hats off to the media for being considerate at the same time as seeking every possible thread of information.

From a crisis communications perspective, Pike River Mine CEO Peter Whittall has been a study in best practice because*:

“1. He was the right person for the job – the top company executive and a competent communicator
2. He stuck to the plan – tell the families first and then the media
3. He engendered trust through his straight, factual answers – all without getting flustered
4. He demonstrated competence and knowledge but also compassion – people believed him
5. His key messages were consistent and frequent – people knew that everything possible was being done” * Source here.

One of the most helpful resources I have been using to keep up to date with the news concerning Pike River is Twitter. I recommend you follow @pikerivernews for future updates and information about the disaster and add a yellow Twibbon to your page here. In addition, The Police have a great timeline turned newsfeed as does Pike River Coal.

To see the tribute U2 gave to all the miners while performing here last week, click here.

Written by Jess Miller.