The Victorian company, which has a large market share of the underground metalliferous market, appointed SVP partners Paul Sweeney and Terry Rose on Thursday.

In an announcement to the market, Shairzal director Irma Smith said she had made the decision to put the business into administration.

“In response to significant changes to our revenue projection for the coming year, I resolved to appoint voluntary administrators,” she said.

“This decision was based on the need to act decisively to protect the Shairzal business so that we can continue to support the safety needs of companies like yours into the future.”

Going into administration will give Shairzal some breathing space to restructure its operations.

One change has already happened. Though calls to the company’s main line are answered with a message from managing director David Coe, it is understood Coe is no longer with the business.

Despite the tough times, Smith told ILN’s sister publication, MiningNews.net, she was confident the business would rebound.

“I am confident we can get the business back on its feet within the next two months,” she said.

Rose said it was too early to comment on how the administration would play out for Shairzal because he had not had a chance to fully review the situation.

He said the first creditors’ meeting was due to be held on July 7.

Shairzal has a good name in the hard rock mining industry. One of its rescue chambers played a key role in the Beaconsfield mine disaster of 2006. While Todd Russell and Brant Webb were trapped by the rockfall, the surviving miners from the crew made their way to a Shairzal chamber and waited for the rescuers to arrive.

However, main competitor Minearc and new market entrant Strata Safety Products have been giving the company a hard run of late.

Strata and Minearc went hard at developing a safety refuge chamber for the underground coal market. Long shunned by a coal industry that puts greater store on getting people to the surface, refuge chambers were looked at seriously after the Sago mine disaster.

Shairzal, which had been developing its own coal chamber, opted in 2007 to concentrate on the hard rock environment. MNn understands it has since returned to the coal arena.