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Ontario vows to act on 18 mining review recommendations

Ontario is accepting and vowing to act on the 18 recommendations that come from the province's Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Advisory Group's final report, released this morning.
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Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault was joined by Labour Minister Kevin Flynn this morning to accept formally the 18 recommendations made by the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Advisory Group's final report.

Ontario is accepting and vowing to act on the 18 recommendations that come from the province's Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Advisory Group's final report, released this morning.

MPP Glenn Thibeault and Labour Minister Kevin Flynn accepted the report this morning at Workplace Safety North's annual Mining Health and Safety Conference in Sudbury.

"Though Ontario is one of the safest jurisdictions in the world to work, mining remains a high-risk occupation," Flynn is quoted in a press release. "I'm confident that the work done by the advisory group will increase safety in our mines and save lives."

The full text of the report can be read or downloaded here. The recommendations released today include:

- Requiring employers to have formal water management programs to reduce hazards related to excess water in areas where miners are working;

- Enhance ground control protection to track and monitor seismic activity;

- Mandate the Ministry of Labour to partner with employers and labour to conduct regular mining sector risk assessments; and

- Require employers to have plans in place to manage hazards like silica and diesel exhaust that cause occupational illness.

The province has already mandated an earlier recommendation requiring the use of high-visibility apparel and to create and maintain a mining exposure database to track and monitor potential cancer-causing toxins.

The province's chief prevention officer, George Gritziotis, will also work with industry to implement the report recommendations. First, however, the advisory group and key players will prioritize the recommendations.

Gritziotis is scheduled to discuss the final report's recommendations and its implications later this morning. with a crowd of industry stakeholders.

The United Steelworkers and the Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone's Support (MINES) committee originally advocated for a mining health and safety inquiry, but later agreed to the province's plans for a review instead.

The push for an inquiry came after the June 8, 2011 mining deaths of Jordan Fram and Jason Chenier, who were killed in a run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of Vale's Stobie Mine.

The coroner's inquest into their deaths is set to begin in the Sudbury courthouse on April 20.