Summary
The safety of employees in any enterprise or organization should be of particular importance. Heads should pay special attention to this aspect in order to avoid negative consequences in the event of a critical situation. However, if an event has occurred that has put people’s lives in danger, it is necessary to use various methods to come to a single decision. This paper discusses how the mediation approach could have helped in solving the issue of safety in critical situations taking the case of the Pike River Coal Mine Disaster as an example. It could have been useful as it helps the conflicting parties to come to an effective outcome and avoid disputable situations.
Mediation is one of the leading, compelling and successful ways to resolve conflicts. The basis of this method is the involvement of a third party. This person assists the negotiation process between the main parties to the conflict. This approach to resolving conflict situations is used when the conflicting parties understand that they cannot independently come to a mutual resolution. The primary purpose of involving a third party is to convey to both sides the idea that, despite the involvement of an additional participant, the responsibility for solving the problem lies with the conflicting parties.
Cases in which mediation can be applied may become conflicts, as in the case of the Pike River Coal Mine Disaster. This is a situation where the parties to the conflict are focused on greater confidentiality. This goal is pursued to create more external sincerity, which cannot be counted on when applying to the court. The former CEO of the mine does not consider himself to be guilty of the horrible accident that took the lives of 29 people (Hayden, 2018). Mediation would help resolve the conflict quietly and peacefully and prove to the executive director that he has direct involvement in the incident due to poor control over the safety of employees and the workplace as a whole.
It is important to note that the person involved as a third party must have specific knowledge. They include ways to effectively organize the conflict resolution process for the full involvement of its participants. In addition, it is vital to direct the parties to a voluntary and mutual search for getting rid of disagreements that would satisfy everyone. The main advantage of mediation is the operational nature of the method. Mainly, third-party participants who are involved in the conflict are not bound by formal requirements, and their attention is wholly focused on one instance, unlike judicial representatives who deal with several cases at once.
Fundamental Safety Concerns
An accident at work is always a big problem, as it affects such aspects as the life and health of employees, material damage, compensation costs, legal costs, losses due to downtime. Two fundamental safety concerns that can be identified from the disaster on the Pike River Coal Mine before the explosion are incorrect training and flaws in risk assessment. The human factor plays a significant role in the security system of any enterprise, especially mines. It can have a decisive impact on the existence of the company, its functioning, and the duration of its work. Thus, the role of employees and their incorrect and incomplete training is a serious factor in the emergence of security threats.
Before an explosion, one of the fundamental safety concerns is the lack of training and unskilled working personnel employed at the mine. There were reports of incidents caused by inexperience, inadequate training, and failures to follow procedures. Such aspect plays an essential role in the formation and proper functioning of production. This is due to the fact that a tiny detail can provoke significant and terrible consequences, as happened in the case under study.
Highly qualified, educated employees are the basis for the successful operation of such enterprises as mines. Moreover, they ensure the reduction of risk factors for all people working on it. Before accepting any specialist, it is necessary to make sure of his professionalism and competence. This includes all the knowledge that people have gained during training and the assessment of qualifications as a benefit that new employees can bring to the organization. The competitiveness of the mine and the efficiency of its activities directly depend on the enterprise’s timely and correct response to unusual situations occurring in the process of personnel functioning. In order to avoid risks to life even before the onset of a critical situation, it is necessary to take measures to improve the skills of employees. They can be applied both inside the enterprise and outside it, through various trainings and self-learning.
A threat to the life and safety of personnel may be a discrepancy between the qualifications of employees and the requirements imposed on them, a poorly established system of management and training of personnel, and errors in the planning of labor resources. Moreover, they can include the absence of a corporate policy or its inefficient organization and incomplete verification and testing of candidates before their direct employment. In order to avoid irreversible and terrible consequences that may be caused by insufficient qualification of personnel, it is necessary to create such conditions that the organization constantly takes various steps to improve the efficiency of the team for the benefit of the enterprise. This system may involve the use of the latest methods for personnel management.
The second factor that can adversely affect the further work of the enterprise and lead to severe consequences can be considered defective equipment and technically weak equipment. Technical difficulties were considered to be one of the reasons for the explosion. This is because the company in the process of construction asked for an extension from its financiers and extra finance, which also caused late frameworks.
High-quality equipment is a reliable factor of personnel safety. This is because most failures can cause negative consequences, such as fire, explosion, and the collapse of large equipment. The aspects that can cause a dangerous situation are corrosion, improper use, wear and overload, improper supply and control, or technological error. The dangers of the equipment can be avoided by conducting an analysis of it, which can prevent the occurrence of negative consequences.
Sufficient and correct financing for the construction of such structures as mine plays an important role in ensuring the safety of the organization itself and its personnel. Pons (2016) emphasized that “poor systems-engineering contributed via poorly designed ventilation, use of power-electronics underground, and placement of the main ventilation fan underground” (p. 1). Moreover, it should be noted that proper operation and proper investment in equipment cannot reliably compensate for the shortcomings of the project and installation. Therefore, it is important to consider the complete process from selection and installation, use of maintenance, and testing to assess the actual condition and operating conditions of the equipment. A comprehensive protection process is essential for ensuring proper operation and maintaining the safety of people at the mine. Its main goal is to provide an opportunity for the effective development of the enterprise in an unstable situation. Timely diagnostics and identification of potential threats, protection of corporate interests, health and life of workers also play a unique role.
Mediation as Effective Method of Resolving a Conflict
Mediation as a way of conducting negotiations to resolve a critical situation is possible at any stage of the conflict. This is regardless of whether there is a decision of a court or some other state body. Mediation helps the parties to realize the true interests of each party involved. The initial intentions and opinions may not show what the parties really want to achieve in resolving the conflict. Being in such a situation, the parties cannot get out of it without outside help. The mediator, acting by verified and well-thought-out methods, can facilitate the process of making an informed decision and achieve the satisfaction of both conflicting views while observing the principle of respect for the interests of both PRCM and other stakeholders.
The mediator should also make sure that there should be no suppression of interested parties when resolving the conflict. This factor is one of the decisive factors in the case of the Pike River Coal Mine Disaster. Analysis of the PRM disaster, conducted by Lamm and Lips-Wiersm (2018), showed that “silently silencing stakeholders is not solely a consequence of suppressive stances of the corporation, but rather that the corporation itself is one of many stakeholders in a social, economic, and political industrial relations context” (p. 560). However, taking into account the views of interested parties in making any decision is of particular importance for reducing economic, environmental, human, and reputational risk.
The interest in conducting negotiations with the involvement of an intermediary is a central aspect. It is around him that the discussion, satisfaction, or dissatisfaction with the results focuses. The mediator performs the task of organizing procedures for coordinating views and opinions. The parties must have specific resources to implement the agreements. If the negotiations do not end with an agreement or their implementation, then it is pointless to talk about the possibility of their implementation. Resources determine the seriousness of the intentions of the parties involved in the conflict. First, the parties must agree on the candidacy of an intermediary, taking into account the degree of confidence in the additional participant. An intermediary should not be imposed or appointed by someone from the outside, except in cases requiring severe and prompt intervention. Secondly, it is necessary to make sure that the specialist is competent in the negotiation procedures and the principles of balancing relations. If the participants clash in their opinions, then without establishing their positions, negotiations can only worsen the situation.
The method of conducting mediation negotiations involves several consecutive steps. The first step directly concerns the realization that it is impossible to resolve the conflict without the involvement of an outside expert. The next step is to agree on the procedures and rules for conducting negotiations. Determining the interests of the parties, searching for common interests, and agreeing on options for resolving the dispute is the third necessary step. It is extremely important that mediation is mainly aimed at organizing accepting mutual consent and the conditions for its implementation, not at a conflict resolution strategy. The conflicting parties determine the content of the decisions taken. The mediator should only work on directing and controlling the situation that has arisen.
Thus, caution and control are presented as the most critical aspects of the negotiation process. At this point, decisions should be made on the use of a third party in the discussion. The main task of the expert involved is to find a solution to the problem that has arisen in order to help in establishing mutual understanding. It is essential to take into account the time factor when using this method. Thus, one of the parties may need a certain period of time to realize that one interaction with the second participant is not enough to solve the problem. The negotiating teams that include PRCM and other stakeholders also need time to develop an action plan and determine a strategy to reach a consensus-based decision.
Recommendation to Ensure Changes
Mediation is an effective way to resolve disputes that are based on a significant number of problems, the resolution of which involves the continuation of the relationship between the parties. This is due to the fact that it is able to create a model of interaction in the event of future conflicts. A crucial aspect of conducting negotiations with the involvement of an intermediary is to ensure that changes are made to the work of the enterprise. It is vital to make sure that the process of resolving the conflict that led to the explosion at the mine was carefully realized and will entail the necessary innovations.
The creation of a disaster risk management (DRM) unit or its improvement has an essential role in certifying the implementation of the agreement of the parties to the conflict. Shabudin et al. (2017) state that “strengthening and stimulating the capacities of stakeholders or actors through capacity building for DRM might systematically contribute to building social resilience towards disaster hazards” (p. 601). This division at mine enterprises should deal with such aspects as identifying and analyzing threats, assessing the probability of their occurrence and possible sizes, development, and introducing measures to prevent and minimize the danger and development of mechanisms for eliminating the consequences restoring the enterprise. In addition, analyzing the current situation and past experience, the risk management service should assess the dynamics of the company’s performance indicators under the influence of various types of factors.
Thus, mediation is a way to resolve a conflict by involving an intermediary. The mediator helps to build a constructive dialogue and come to a compromise without aggression. This method could be especially effective in resolving the conflict related to the Pike River Coal Mine Disaster. Several factors that were given too little attention led to the tragedy. In this case, the conflicting parties independently come to a mutually beneficial solution, relying on the help of a third party. It is worth noting that the resolution of the dispute depends entirely on the will of the parties.
References
Hayden, D. (2018). Some things Pike River’s Peter Whittall could feel guilt over. The Spinoff.
Lamm, F., & Lips-Wiersm, M. (2018). A disaster waiting to happen: Silently silencing stakeholders at the Pike River Coal Mine. Journal of Industrial Relations, 60(4), 560-583.
Pons, D.J. (2016). Pike River mine disaster: Systems-engineering and organizational contributions. Safety, 2(21).
Shabudin, A. F. A., Azhar, S. N. F. S., & Ng, T. F. (2017). Learning lab on disaster risk management for sustainable development (DRM-SD): An evaluation. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 9(5), 600-625.