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USW: Canada lags protecting miners from diesel particulate

Canada allows miners to be breathe more diesel particulate — much more — than the U.S. EU, or Australia, so Steelworkers Local 6500 launch campaign to push for much lower exposure limit

United Steelworkers Local 6500 and several industrial health advocates in Sudbury have launched a new campaign to clear the air and make it easier to breathe in underground mines. 

The effort is aimed at reducing the amount of allowable diesel particulate that exposes thousands of miners to carcinogenic levels of particulates in the mining industry.

Sudbury's Local 6500 has launched the USW Diesel Particulate Project in partnership with the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health (CROSH) at Laurentian University, and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW).

This new campaign was the subject of a town hall meeting at the USW Hall on Brady Street Dec. 8 with roughly 100 to 150 in attendance. Many were active and retired miners with experience in underground environments and were exposed to the exhaust and fumes from heavy equipment diesel mining machines.

Sean Staddon, the WSIB representative for Local 6500, said the key concern is that the safety threshold for diesel particulates in Ontario is simply too high to be safe.

"It is 400 micrograms per-meter-cubed is the occupational exposure limit set out in the mining regulations for Ontario," said Staddon. It begs the question of how does Ontario compare with other industrialized areas.

"It's absolutely the highest in all similar jurisdictions. So the United States is 160. The European Union is at 50. Australia is at 100. We are at four times that."

Staddon said the recommendation from scientists is not to exceed 20 micrograms. 

"So really think about that and wonder why if we have a leading mandate in Ontario to be the safest and most productive and mining, then this is one of the laws that has to change," Staddon said.

Although the meeting began at 7 p.m., miners and other workers lined up for a full hour before the meeting to register their names, job functions and workplaces with workers from OHCOW.

Among those interviewing the miners was Janice Martell, the woman who spearheaded the McIntyre Project to have the government officially recognize that the use of aluminum powder in Northern Ontario mines was wrong and exposed miners to neurological disorders such as Parkinson's Disease. 

Martell was invited to address the town hall and said the exposure from diesel exhaust particulates is a "clear and present danger" to the health and lives of workers in the mining industry.

Martell mentioned such diseases as lung cancer, bladder cancer, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), pulmonary fibrosis and cardiovascular issues as being associated with diesel particulate. She said a lot of mine workers might have the attitude that mining presents inherent dangers and that is part of the reason for good pay. Martell said high wages do not justify poor health. 

"There's no money, no wage, no benefits that can replace your health or your life," Martell said. 

Martell appealed to the workers in the room to take action by registering their names. She urged mine workers not to stand by. Martell said the more that people step forward the better the information that the researchers will have to work with. 

Martell said the organizers of the campaign have set up a voluntary online registry. 

Also speaking to the audience was Laurentian University graduate student researcher George Flagler who will be working through CROSH to gather health and safety information on how diesel particulates have impacted mine workers. He gave the group a more in-depth description of the effect on the body. 

"It's this inhaled diesel particulate that damages the lung tissue. We're not talking about exhaust here, we're talking specifically about the particulate. It's the smallest particles that really go deep into the lungs and penetrate, enter the bloodstream and travel to the heart and other organs," said Flagler.

Also speaking to the group was USW Local 6500 union president Nick Larochelle who said this new campaign by the union is important because the current safety threshold for diesel particulate is far too high. He reminded people that things change and that not wearing a seatbelt, or drinking and driving are things that are now socially unacceptable. Larochelle said it has to be the same way with occupational sickness in that it has to become socially unacceptable. 

Len Gillis covers mining and health care for Sudbury.com.


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Len Gillis

About the Author: Len Gillis

Graduating from the Journalism program at Canadore College in the 1970s, Gillis has spent most of his career reporting on news events across Northern Ontario with several radio, television and newspaper companies. He also spent time as a hardrock miner.
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