The Ministry of Labour will enforce new regulations on Jan. 1 that Ontario’s chief prevention officer expects will make underground mining safer across the province.
George Gritziotis, the province’s chief prevention officer and chair of the 15-month Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review, was in Sudbury on June 8 to announce amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act’s regulation 854, which covers mines and mining plants.
Gritziotis announced the amendments on the fifth anniversary of the June 8, 2011 tragedy in Vale’s Stobie Mine in Sudbury that killed Jordan Fram, 26, and Jason Chenier, 35.
Both men were killed in a run of muck at the 3,000-foot level.
Fram and Chenier’s deaths prompted the Ministry of Labour’s review of mining health and safety practices, thanks in part to a strong push from the United Steelworkers and the Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support (MINES) group, which included Fram’s mother Wendy Fram and sister Briana Fram as members.
In April 2015, the review made 18 recommendations to improve health and safety conditions in Ontario’s underground mines.
They included requiring employers to have formal water management programs to reduce hazards related to excess water in areas where miners are working; enhancing ground control protection to track and monitor seismic activity; mandating the Ministry of Labour to partner with employers and labour to conduct regular mining sector risk assessments.
More than a year later, Gritziotis announced the Occupational Health and Safety Act amendments, which will require employers to have written programs for water management, traffic management and ground control underground.
The programs would need to include ways to avoid hazards in the different areas they cover.
Gritziotis said the ministry’s main focus will be on prevention, and to give mining companies the support and tools they need to adhere to the new regulations.
He said most employers “get it” and take the health and safety of their workers seriously, but enforcement, through several Ministry of Labour inspector blitzes, will be used to bring those that don’t comply with the rules into line.
