February 4, 2008

Safety

B.C. quarry deaths spur safety program

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

The B.C. government has released a practical guidebook to help promote safety in aggregate mining operations, after the death of four workers in 2007.

Four workers, including two who had been on the job less than three days, were killed in separate incidents in B.C.’s quarries in 2007.

This is a significant increase from only a single death in the previous five years.

In response to this spike, Kevin Krueger, minister of state for mining, announced on Jan.15 that the government was releasing a best practices guidebook entitled Health & Safety: A Practical Guide for Aggregate Operations.

The aim of the guidebook is to get workers to think about safety

However, reading the booklet is not mandatory and it is not a replacement for the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code.

“This guidebook will provide some useful and practical guidelines to assist workers, supervisors, and managers, in the aggregate industry to maintain the safest and healthiest possible work environments in this growing industry,” Krueger said.

The Aggregate Producers Association of B.C. (APABC) said they believe that the guidebook is a good start for raising the profile of safety and safe operating practices in the industry.

A number of groups are reviewing how quarry workers are trained.

“This (the guidebook) is a response to the fatalities we experienced in the industry. The Aggregate Producers, the Construction Safety Network and the chief inspector of mines decided what we needed was a comprehensive response, which includes a well developed set of best practices,” said Stephen Torrence, executive director of the Construction Safety Network.

“Now we will work on a comprehensive set of standards and launch an education campaign.”

Paul Allard, executive director the APABC, said they are working on a larger picture safety program.

“The goal is to have zero accidents and create a model that we can deliver to aggregate producers, so they can train employees to work safely,” he said.

As part of the prevention strategy, the ministry issued a directive to the aggregate industry to show that all new workers have received appropriate orientation and training. The ministry is developing a health, safety and operational skills program that is similar to one used in the construction industry.

The ministry also conducts on-site mine inspections, investigates accidents and audits of mines to ensure continuous health and safety of workers.

The best-practices standard is expected to take at least a year to develop and should be complete by February 2009.

In sharp contrast, a labour group said safety in mines and quarries is still an issue.

“The government is missing the point,” said Jim Sinclair, B.C. Federation of Labour president.

“We need more than a pamphlet listing safety suggestions, we need better safety laws and stronger enforcement of them.”

Despite recommendations from a coroner’s inquest into deaths of four people at Sullivan Mine in 2006, the government refused to change B.C.’s mine safety laws to meet or exceed WorkSafeBC standards.

“The best way to improve mine safety is to remove it from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Energy and Mines and put it in the hands of the WCB (WorkSafeBC),” added Sinclair.

B.C. is the only province in Canada that still has mine safety under the Mines Act, administered by the Ministry of Energy and Mines.

In other provinces, mine safety falls under the jurisdiction of provincial occupational health and safety regulations and the administration is the responsibility of either the Workers Compensation Board or the Ministry of Labour.

Print | Email | Comment