The Ministry of Labour's court case against Glencore, which faces a number of charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for the 2015 death of 54-year-old Richard Pigeau, was adjourned to Feb. 10, 2017.
Glencore and its counsel, from the Toronto law firm McCarthy Tétrault, were give extra time during a court appearance Friday to review 14 volumes of materials related to the case.
Pigeau died on Oct. 20, 2015, at the 1,660-metre level of Nickel Rim South Mine, when he was struck by a piece of equipment.
On Oct. 14 the Ministry of Labour laid five charges against Glencore related to Pigeau's death. Those charges were:
- Interfering with and/or disturbing, and/or altering articles and/or things at the scene of a workplace fatality.
- Failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the safety of the worker.
- Failing to ensure that the equipment it provided was maintained in good condition.
- Failing to ensure that the measures and procedures prescribed in section 105(1)(a) of Regulation 854, R.R.O. 1990 were carried out in a workplace.
- Failing to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
The ministry laid an additional two charges against a supervisor at the Nickel Rim South Mine. Those charges were:
- Failing to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker.
- Failing, as a worker, to work in a manner that did not endanger another worker.
“The loss of Mr. Pigeau continues to be painful for everyone who knew him and something we continue to take very seriously,” Glencore said in a statement to the media earlier in the year.
“As we review the legal aspects of this matter, our primary focus remains on the health and safety of our people, and doing everything we can to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring. We conducted an investigation jointly with union officials with a goal of learning from this fatality and have implemented the resulting action items, as well as engaged our workforce in a review of the incident as part of our continuous safety dialogue.”
