Posts Tagged As: Employers' responsibilities

Blog Post #29 – Man Dies in Quarry Accident

Excerpt from ctvottawa.ca

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour is investigating a workplace accident that killed a 26-year-old man as he worked at a privately-owned quarry near Manotick. The man was working an excavator Thursday morning at 6107 First Line Rd., a jobsite owned by Green Valley Environmental, a waste water company specializing in septic system services. As he scooped up part of a 30-50-foot mound of rock and gravel with his machinery, it’s believed part of the pile collapsed, tumbling on top of him. The incident crushed the cab, with him inside. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Blog Post #28 – Potash Corporation Receives Maximum Penalty

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 #25 – Miners Were Never Alerted To the Danger

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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