Canadian Safety Reporter

2 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 CSR | June 2014 | News Mining deaths spark concern in Ontario But province on the right track in review, says association president BY LIZ BERNIER A MINING tragedy in northern Ontario has renewed scrutiny of the industry's safety practices — and further underscored the need for the province's ongoing mining safety review. On May 6, Marc Methe, 34, and Norm Bissaillon, 49, died after a ground collapse at First Nickel's Lockerby Mine near Sudbury, Ont. There is a joint employer- union investigation underway at the mine, and the Ministry of Labour is also investigating. The fatalities came only one month after another mining fa- tality in the Sudbury area — and there have been many more in- cidents, according France Géli- nas, the MPP for Nickel Belt, the provincial riding where Lock- erby Mine is located. "Since I was elected six years ago, there have been more than six fatalities in my riding alone of people working in the mines. That does not include very se- rious accidents," said Gélinas. "Over the last 30 years, there have been dozens and hundreds of people getting hurt in our mines. And basically, every time there's an inquest, that inquest often brings forward good rec- ommendations. Those recom- mendations tend to be imple- mented where the accident took place, but it doesn't seem like the best practice gets shared indus- try-wide." George Gritziotis, Ontario's chief prevention officer for the Ministry of Labour, said in a statement the deaths were "un- acceptable." "We must find better ways of protecting people who go into mines every day to earn a liv- ing. No job is worth a life. All of us have the responsibility to work together to do what we can to stop these senseless tragedies from happening again," he said. These latest fatalities have set off alarm bells about mining safety issues, said Gélinas. "Anybody that hadn't heard the alarm bells, heard them this time," she said. Provincial safety review Ontario is currently conduct- ing a one-year mining health, safety and prevention review, which will involve expert ad- vice from an advisory group of industry, labour and health and safety representatives — as well as public and stakeholder input. So far, the review is on the right track, according to Chris Hodgson, president of the On- tario Mining Association in To- ronto. "I think they've got it right so far — they've got a good panel, they've got good work- ing groups — they've divided into six sub-panels basically, six working groups with different topics," he said. The mining industry does have a good record in the prov- ince, but there is more work to be done, said Hodgson. "We've got a good safety re- cord in Ontario — in terms of mining safety, we're one of the best in the world. We're also the second safest sector in Ontario's economy, behind education, in terms of lost-time injuries. Un- fortunately, we still have some fatalities," he said. "When you go to work, you should be confident that you will come home safe and sound. So we've got more work to be done. Even though we've got a good record, it can get better. So that's why we welcome this review." Hopefully, the collaborative approach will help the industry reach its goal of zero harm in the workplace, he said. "We hope that by working collaboratively with labour and management and government, we hope they keep that model and improve the model in terms of fatalities," he said. "The old confrontational approach didn't work — and by collaborating, we've had huge improvements to safety in Ontario." Gélinas agrees a collaborative approach is the best one. "There seems to be right now more of a willingness to partici- pate than there was before. So we're hopeful good things (will) come from the review," she said. But she hasn't ruled out the possibility of calling for an in- quest — something she and her party, the NDP, have called for in the past. "If they run into roadblocks, if they're not able to do their work fully, then we in the NDP con- tinue to believe that the power of an inquiry to mandate people to testify under oath, to request papers, to enter premises, et- cetera, may still be needed," she said. "Right now, there is quite a bit of goodwill from all involved to try to do better, and to try to make sure we don't have another person die at work. And hope- fully the goodwill will continue. If it was to derail, then an inqui- ry would be needed." Enforcement tools Investigations after a workplace fatality often involve a company and/or union investigation, and a Ministry of Labour investiga- tion. However, in certain cases, there is also the possibility of a criminal investigation. Commonly known as the Westray Bill — named for the 1992 Westray coal mining disas- ter that saw 26 worker fatalities — the 2004 law allows organi- Westray > pg. 6 Credit: Osman Orsal (Reuters) A body of miner is carried to an ambulance in Soma, a district in Turkey's western province of Manisa on May 16. The mining accident in western Turkey killed about 300 workers. In Canada, mining deaths made headlines recently when two workers were killed at First Nickel's Lockerby Mine near Sudbury, Ont.

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