Overview

During a blitz in February and March, 2017, Ministry of Labour inspectors:

Inspectors checked that employers were complying with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and its regulations. This included checking that mining plant operators used proper procedures to assess and address hazards with processing equipment.

The goals of the inspection blitz were to:

  • raise awareness of key health and safety hazards about processing at mining plants
  • increase workplace compliance with the law
  • prevent injuries from unsafe work practices

Aspects of processing at mining plants

Processing involves various equipment and places used to wash, crush, grind, sift, reduce, leach, roast, smelt, refine, treat or conduct research on any metallic or non-metallic mineral or mineral-bearing substance, rock, earth, clay, sand or gravel.

Processing equipment includes:

  • furnaces
  • converters
  • ball and roller mills
  • leaching tanks
  • crushing/screening and sifting
  • conveyor systems
  • electro chemical tanks
  • roasting

Any incident that involves processing has the potential to be very serious. It can result in worker injuries and deaths as well as damage to property.

Between 2000 and 2015, four workers died in Ontario mines as a result of incidents involving processing equipment in mining plants.

Full report

Workplace inspection blitzes

Inspection blitzes are part of our Safe At Work Ontario compliance strategy. We announce to the sector, in advance, that we will be doing a blitz, although individual workplaces are not notified in advance. The results of the blitz are typically posted online, within 90 days. Inspectors' findings may impact the number and level of future inspections of individual workplaces.

Inspectors may also refer employers to health and safety associations for compliance assistance and training.

Blitz focus

Ministry of Labour inspectors visited underground and surface mining plants across Ontario. In particular, they targeted:

  • mining plants where previous incidents occurred
  • mining plants with a poor compliance history
  • recently reopened or new mining plants

Inspectors and engineers checked on specific safety issues, such as making sure:

  • workers in mine plants were trained in relevant Common Core Training programs for the work they performed, as set out in section 11 of the Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants
  • workers were trained in proper lifting and rigging practices
  • employers had a written lock and tag program
  • machine and conveyor guarding was in compliance with sections 185 and 196 of the Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants
  • procedures were in place to ensure workers were not exposed to stored energies when working on equipment, as required by sections 158 and 185 of the Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants

If they found violations under the OHSA or its regulations, inspectors took enforcement action, as appropriate, such as:

  • writing orders to employers, supervisors and workers to make them comply with legal requirements
  • requiring employers to provide information to the inspector
  • issuing stop work orders which require employers to comply with the requirements included in the order before work can continue.

Inspection activity summary

Visits to mines

  • 38 field visits
  • 17 workplaces visited
  • 97 orders issued for a number of violations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its regulations
  • 6 stop work orders issued
  • 7 requirements to provide an inspector with information related to the workplace
  • an average of 5.71 orders and requirements issued per workplace visited
  • an average of 2.55 orders and requirements issued per field visit

Most frequently issued orders

The most frequently issued orders under the OHSA and Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants during the blitz were:

Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants, section 185(2)

Reason for order: Failure to ensure a machine that has an exposed moving part that may endanger the safety of any person is fenced or guarded.

Number of orders: 9

Percentage of orders issued during blitz: 9.28%

Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants, section 196(3.1)

Reason for order: Failure to ensure the head, tail, drive, deflection and tension pulleys, and if the lift of the belt is restricted, the return rollers and the carry rollers are guarded by a guard that, unless it would render the pinch point inaccessible, extends at least 0.9 metres from the pinch point.

Number of orders: 9

Percentage of orders issued during blitz: 9.28%

OHSA section 25(1)(b)

Reason for order: Failure to ensure equipment, materials and protective devices provided by employer are maintained in good condition.

Number of orders: 8

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 8.25%

OHSA section 25(2)(h)

Reason for order: Failure to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for protection of workers.

Number of orders: 7

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 7.22%

OHSA section 57(6)(a)

Reason for order: Stop work on any place, equipment, machine, device, article, thing, process or material until order is complied with.

Numbers of orders: 6

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 6.19%

OHSA section 54(1)(c)

Reason for order: Requirement to produce to the inspector any drawing, specifications, licence, document, record or report.

Numbers of orders: 5

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 5.15%

Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants, section 46(1)

Reason for order: Failure to provide safe means of access to a workplace by a walkway, stairway or ladderway.

Numbers of orders: 4

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 4.12%

Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants, section 87(1)(a) and (b)

Reason for order: Failure to keep a workplace in an underground mine free from accumulations or flows of water which might endanger a worker in the area, and failure to have a water removal and drainage system to remove excess or unwanted water from the mine to the surface through a pumping system or by other means.

Numbers of orders: 4

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 4.12%

Regulation for Mines and Mining Plants, section 155(1)

Reason for order: Failure to comply with requirement for electrical equipment to be installed or modified in accordance with good electrical practices.

Numbers of orders: 3

Percentage of orders issued during the blitz: 3.09%

Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review

In December, 2013, the Minister of Labour asked Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer to start a Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review focusing specifically on the occupational health and safety needs of the underground mining sector.

The review identified key health and safety issues which were studied by external subject matter experts.

The findings of the review were published on April 15, 2015, along with 18 recommendations, all accepted by the Minister.

We have begun implementing the recommendations with some already completed, such as:

  • strengthening and improvingrequirements for high visibility safety apparel
  • conducting a risk assessment of hazards at mines across Ontario in 2017
  • implementing regulatory amendments for key recommendations pertaining to risk assessments, water management, and traffic management, which came into effect on January 1, 2017

We are currently reviewing these two recommendations from an enforcement and mining regulatory viewpoint. This includes working with the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, and industry and labour mining communitees to revise their First Line Underground Mine Supervisor common core program.

Additionally, two of the 18 recommendations address worker training and a need to create a consistent modular training program.

Conclusion and next steps

Employers, supervisors, workers, Joint Health and Safety Committees and health and safety representatives must continue to work together to identify and control hazards at mining plants.

Ministry inspectors will continue to focus on hazards related to safe work practices, including hazards involving proper guarding of machinery and conveyors, which accounted for the majority of the orders (including stop orders) issued during the blitz.

Help for employers

Please contact our health and safety partners for more information on conveyor guarding, locking and tagging and worker training.

For more information on common core programs you can contact the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development at 1-800-387-5514.