Vale Canada pleaded guilty in a Sudbury courthouse, Oct. 24, to four of the nine counts it faced following the April 6, 2014 accident at the Copper Cliff smelter that claimed the life of one man and injured another.
Vale will be fined $1 million and Greg Taylor, a shift supervisor, will be fined $3,000 in connection with the death of 36-year-old Paul Rochette.
The case was filed against Vale by the Ministry of Labour.
Paul Rochette, 36, was killed when he was struck in the head by a pin that broke off a crusher and was released under pressure.
Another mechanic, 28-year-old Justin Stewart, received a concussion and facial lacerations in the same incident.
After Rochette's death Vale and the United Steelworkers conducted a joint investigation and made 58 recommendations to improve safety at the smelter.
Those recommendations included creating a policy on how to repair a crusher if it stalled – which didn't exist prior – along with rules restricting access to the crusher platform, and a system to prevent foreign materials from falling on the conveyor belt, which leads to the crusher.
While Stewart commended the United Steelworkers for pushing for the joint investigation, he told media Vale still weren't following some basic safety procedures at the smelter when he returned.
Because his compensation from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board covered only 54 per cent of his gross income previously, he ended up applying for jobs elsewhere, and found work as a millwright in southern Ontario.
Among the guilty pleas it entered, Vale admitted that it failed to ensure workers knew how to properly remove a broken piece from a ferrochrome crusher. It was that broken piece that flew out of the machine, killing Rochette and injuring Stewart.
Greg Taylor, 40, a day foreman at the time of Rochette's death, pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to ensure the oversized obstruction was properly removed from the crusher, before Rochette and Stewart made their attempt, costing the former his life.
Taylor was charged $3,000 because his actions happened earlier that day, and did not lead directly to Rochette's death.
Following its investigation the Ministry of Labour also charged two Vale supervisors – Eric Labelle and Glenn Munro – but those charges were later dropped.
Mike Bond, health and safety chair for the United Steelworkers Local 6500, said companies and managers need to face criminal repercussions to make workplaces safer.
“The million dollars is nothing to these big companies,” Bond said.
In 2004, the federal government amended the criminal code through Bill C-45 – often called the Westray Bill – which allowed for managers to be found criminally responsible for workplace fatalities.
But the amendment has only been invoked a handful of times since then.
Stuart Harshaw, Vale’s vice-president of Ontario operations, released the following statement on behalf of Vale:
"While the legal aspects of this matter have been resolved, Paul’s loss continues to be felt deeply by all of us at Vale and within the community.This has been an extremely difficult time for everyone involved, but nobody more so than Paul’s family, and Justin Stewart and his family.
"Since this incident, as a result of our joint investigation with the United Steelworkers Local 6500, we have taken responsibility and concrete action to prevent a similar incident from ever occurring. In total, 58 recommendations have been addressed in the crushing area of the smelter and more broadly across our operations.
"We can say with confidence that our operations are safer now as a result.
"There is nothing more important to us than the safety of our people, and the loss of one of our employees is devastating. We never again want to see another situation where one of our own doesn’t return home safely to their family.
"Zero harm to our employees continues to be what we strive for, and these efforts will continue through our day to day work. Vale will also actively participate in the Coroner’s Inquest that will take place according to provincial law. It is our intent to learn everything we can through that process as well when it occurs."
