A coroner's jury has recommended better training for all workers who use blasting aids following the death of a miner six years ago.
The jury also recommended the the Ministry of Labor create a separate investigative team to work specifically on cases involving fatalities and serious injuries.
The four-woman, one-man coroner's jury accepted the key recommendations forwarded by Xstrata Nickel management and Local 598 of the Mine Mill/CAW, while adding one of their own asking the ministry to form the separate investigative team.
An inquest was held Monday through Wednesday at a Sudbury hotel into the death of Kevin Payette, 38, who was killed July 28, 2001 after being crushed by a baffle gate used to control the flow of ore down an underground chute at Fraser Mine.
The inquest heard Payette, who had just moved to Sudbury after 14 years in the mining industry in Timmins, was working with his partner at the 3,600-foot level of Fraser Mine, which was owned by Falconbridge Ltd. at the time.
Payette was trying to use 12-foot long poles, with a blasting aid attached at the top, to unclog a huge mass of ore stuck up the ore chute.
Payette, like all underground miners who work on transportation crews, was trained to never work under any chute where the baffle gate was open.
His partner Lucien Duclos said he got into an argument with Payette telling him he should never position himself under the chute with the baffle gate open, but Payette insisted.
Duclos testified he still has no idea how the baffle gate opened, but believes one of the aluminum poles Payette was using to move the blasting aid likely touched a lever located several feet away on a catwalk used to control the baffle gate and another gate at the bottom of the ore chute.
The jury recommended:
- Ministry of Labor consider organizing itself with a separate investigation and inspection division to facilitate the flow of ideas and recommendations to improve safety.
- Procedures for all blasting aids should be reviewed and developed by mining companies and if new blasting aids are introduced into the workplace, extensive evaluation and training should take place to ensure workers are aware of the safe operation of these devices.
- Baffle gate control valve handles should be fully enclosed to prevent any inadvertent contact. The inquest heard Falconbridge Ltd., which was bought out by Xstrata Nickel last year, has since this accident, enclosed such levers.
- Common core modular training guidelines mandatory to new underground miners hired on should be reviewed with the trainee at the beginning of each modular session as set out by the Mining Tripartite Committee and Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. A successful demonstration of skills should be required for each task in the module before the trainee can be accredited. Accreditation for each task should be signed off and dated when the successful demonstration for the task is completed to ensure competency and consistency in accreditation.
- Mining companies identify tasks that are hazardous and/or dangerous, and create written procedures for each task. If the procedure can't be followed as written, a non-routine hazardous task protocol should be followed to maximize the safety of the worker performing the task and ensure consistency in the way tasks are completed.
- Mining companies should investigate the feasibility of pulling ore chutes more often to reduce hang-ups of ore in the chute to minimize the frequency of blasting.
Rick Grylls, president of Local 598, praised the jury for listening to all the evidence in making recommendations which would greatly improve worker safety at underground mining operations.
He particularly liked the recommendation the ministry for a separate investigations division to look at incidents involving serious injury and fatalities.
This would allow the ministry and company and union inspectors to continue to ensure the safety of workers in other mining operations while serious injury and fatality investigations are being conducted, he said.
It took almost six years for this inquest to be called and there has to be a better way to bring forward evidence to prevent similar incidents from happening in similar circumstances, said Grylls.
Charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act brought against Falconbridge were dismissed in 2004 and an appeal was unsuccessful last year.
An inquest can only be called under current regulations after all matters brought forward in the provincial court system are dealt with fully.