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Sudbury miner's death could have been avoided

If Vale miner Stephen Perry had been able to complete his work, loading explosives, without being right against Coleman Mine's rock face, he would still be alive today, said a Ministry of Labour inspector during the second day of testimony on Feb.
Perry
Stephen Perry's family, including his brother Tom Perry, centre, and daughter Brittany Boyd Perry, to his left, said they were happy with the 10 recommendations a jury made Thursday, following an inquest into Perry's death at Vale's Coleman on Jan. 29, 2012.

If Vale miner Stephen Perry had been able to complete his work, loading explosives, without being right against Coleman Mine's rock face, he would still be alive today, said a Ministry of Labour inspector during the second day of testimony on Feb. 23 for the inquest into Perry's death.

Perry, 47, was struck and killed by a 14-tonne wedge of rock that dislodged from the 36 West rock face at the 4,215-foot level Coleman Mine on Jan. 29, 2012.

Shaun Carter was one of two Ontario Ministry of Labour inspectors who responded to the incident shortly after Perry was killed on Jan. 29, around noon.

In his testimony, Carter told the five-person jury that bolting and meshing the rock face could have saved Perry's life, but the most effective deterrent would have been for him to work a safe distance, at least six feet or more from the heading.

In early 2012, Vale used heavy bolts and steel mesh to secure the walls and ceilings along its mine drifts, but did not secure the rock faces – where miners extracted the ore – in the same way.

Annetta Sampson-Forsythe, a senior ground control engineer at Coleman Mine, told the jury the area where Perry had been working the day he was killed was not considered risky.

Vale found out after the incident that large rock wedges, sitting at around a 70-degree angle, had slid out of place due to the constant pull of gravity.

Sampson-Forsythe said it was not possible to tell there was anything wrong with the 36 West rock face prior.

In the early morning of Jan. 29, 2012, at around 3 a.m., Vale also detected a 2.4 magnitude seismic event near the mine.

But because the seismic event occurred around 2,000 feet east of Coleman Mine, Sampson-Forsythe said it was not an issue.

Several miners who worked shifts prior to Perry testified they heard popping sounds, associated with seismic activity, when working at the 36 West heading.

After its investigation the Ministry of Labour did not lay charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act against Vale, concluding the incident could not have been foreseen, and all the proper procedures at the time had been followed.

In his testimony Carter said the Ministry of Labour had 10 mine inspectors in 2012 to cover Northern Ontario.

Because of staffing challenges, Carter said he was limited to visiting each mine site on his list around once a year.

“The proactive stuff takes a backseat to the reactive,” he said during his testimony.

While Vale had followed proper procedures leading to the incident, veteran miner Ron Weaver, who was one of the first-responders after Perry was struck by the rock, said in his testimony Monday that the first aid kit available at the time was lacking.

Weaver also noted the Jeep used to transport Perry to the cage, or elevator, so they could bring him to surface, did not leave him enough room to perform CPR.

In his testimony, Perry's shift supervisor, Michael Johnson, said Vale does not have any defibrillators in its underground mines.

After Perry's death Vale and the United Steelworkers Local 6500 started a joint investigation, and eventually came up with 16 recommendations. As of today, all but one of the recommendations have been completed.

Chris Bamberger, the operating manager at Coleman Mine, said Vale ceased operations at the mine for two weeks after Perry's death to assess safety concerns.

One of the biggest changes to come out of the joint investigation recommendations was to bolt and screen rock faces, like the one where Perry was killed, prior to drilling.

The mesh adds more ground support, and can prevent any fallen rock from striking workers.

But the process puts Vale's jumbo drill operators at slightly greater risk while they install the bolts and steel mesh. (A jumbo is a mobile rock drilling machine used in development mining to load holes in a rock face with explosives.)

The bolts and mesh also introduce more scrap to the muck – the mix of broken rock and ore after detonation – that can pose a hazard to workers handling crushers to break down the larger pieces.

Vale has also added canopies to loaders, like the one Perry operated, used in its Sudbury mines.

Bamberger could not say if the canopy would have saved Perry's life, but said the steel mesh could have made the difference for him to come home to his family after his shift.

The one recommendation Vale has not yet completed was to develop technology that would allow for a remotely controlled loader, that would keep the operator a safe distance from the rock face.

Vale has provided funding to Sudbury mining research and engineering firm TesMan to develop a robotic arm that could be attached to any loader, and keep the operator up to 12 feet away from the rock face.

TesMan co-founder Rod Steele said the company has developed a prototype for the robotic arm, and is around six to nine months away from developing a production model.

The company would require additional funding, and an additional six to nine months after the production model is completed, to test it in a working mine.

Steele said he hopes to make the remote loader available to any mining company that wants to purchase it.