KEY POINTS:
A woman who lost her husband in a mining tragedy feels her dogged campaigning is finally paying off as the Government acts to improve safety.
But she feels it is only the beginning.
Mother-of-two Valma McGowan believes some of the Government's new proposals for improving mine safety would have prevented the death of her husband Robert had they been in place in 2006.
Robert McGowan was killed in the Black Reef Mine, near Greymouth, when the area where he was working was flooded.
"I think, in all honesty, it probably took Robert's death for [the Government] to actually do something," Mrs McGowan said.
"Not only my persistence, the unions as well because they have been behind this long before Robert died. It was just that no one took the time to listen to them, and that's a shame."
Among the 10 options in the Government's discussion document, launched yesterday in Mr McGowan's hometown by Minister of Labour Trevor Mallard and West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor, are:
* Licensing regime - High-risk activities such as shaft sinking would require a licence to perform.
* Third-party monitoring system - certain activities would need to be performed by, or under the supervision of, an appropriately qualified person.
* Notification regime - certain high-risk activities would need to be notified to a health and safety inspector before they are carried out.
Mr Mallard said some of the options would require new or changed laws.
"This Government recognises that underground mining is a hazardous industry and has one of the highest workplace injury rates of all industries," he said. "Good health and safety practices are crucial as people's lives depend on them."
Mrs McGowan had doubts about some of proposed changes, but felt the paper was a step in the right direction.
"It's taken a long time but it's finally starting to happen."
Asked if changes proposed could have saved her husband's life, she said: "Without a doubt.
"And that's why it's a shame the union wasn't listened to many years ago when they started their crusade."
If the union had been listened to, she said, "Robert would probably still be here today".
She planned to continue campaigning to improve safety "in the bigger picture".
"It's a lesson for other people too: If you're not happy about something, speak about out it. Because otherwise you will just be walked over and the same thing will happen again."
Andrew Little, national secretary of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, said he could not understand why the Government had taken so long, but it was a move in in the right direction.
Submissions on the discussion document close on June 6.
MINING TOLL
* September, 2006 - Coal miner Bernard Green is crushed to death under a rock fall in the Roa Mine, near Greymouth, on the West Coast.
* March, 2006 - Coal miner Robert McGowan is killed when the Black Reef Mine, near Greymouth, is flooded by water from an old mine site.
* March, 2002 - Riverton man Robert Kingipotiki, 28, dies during a cave-in at the Ohai mine in Southland.
* Department of Labour records show 428 serious harm injuries in the mining industry in the 10 years to December 31, 2007.
* The mining industry has an injury rate more than three times higher than that for industries overall.
