HRS Group Blog

Blog Post #28 – Potash Corporation Receives Maximum Penalty

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Excerpt from the OH&S Canada magazine

The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan received the maximum penalty amount under the provincial health and safety legislation in connection with the death of miner, Robert Tkach, in September 2008. They were fined a total of $420,000 on March 15, 2010 after pleading guilty to one charge of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of a worker, contrary to Section 3(a) of the Occupational Health & Safety Act. The fine includes the maximum penalty of $300,000 plus the maximum victim fine surcharge of $120,000.

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Blog Post #26 – Three Lives Lost in a Confined Space

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Excerpt from the OH&S Canada magazine

The lack of training or just the lack of understanding of a confined space and its associated hazards was at the heart of an accident at a Quebec campsite. This happens a few years ago, (August 2004, to be exact) and an employee of Camping Lac Du Repos, located in the municipality of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, was trying to unclog the outlet pipe of the campground’s septic system when the deadly events were set in motion.

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Blog Post #25 – Miners Were Never Alerted To the Danger

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An alarm system that could have warned three workers about dangerous water levels was disconnected when they drowned at a Quebec mine, last October 30, 2009. The company, Metanor Resources Ltd., sent the three miners down the shaft in an elevator at the Bachelor Lake gold mine in Desmaraisville, Quebec. They were there to help rehabilitate a mine shaft. The miners entered the cage on the six level and headed toward the 12th but encountered water about halfway through the 10th level. The elevator operator grew concerned when the workers did not signal that they reached their destination.

It took rescue workers three days to recover the miners, whose bodies were frozen in blocks of ice.

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