Less than two years after mining worker Richard Pigeau was killed in an accident at the Nickel Rim South Mine in Sudbury, Ont., Toronto-based company Glencore Canada Corporation has pleaded guilty to violating the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with the incident.
The employer was fined $200,000, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, by Justice of the Peace Michael G. Kitlar at the Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury on Aug. 28, according to a court bulletin from the provincial Ministry of Labour (MOL).
Pigeau, who was 54 years old, was operating a load haul dump at the mine on Oct. 20, 2015, when the bucket of the vehicle struck a wall on the right, causing him to be ejected from his seat. One of the vehicle’s tires ran over him, causing fatal injuries.
The incident was investigated by both the MOL and a joint team consisting of Glencore employees and union representatives. Both investigations determined that the door of the load haul dump had opened while the vehicle had been moving down a ramp and that Pigeau had not been wearing his seatbelt at the time of the accident. The MOL and the joint team both concluded that Pigeau would more likely have survived the incident if he had been wearing the seatbelt, the Ministry noted.
Last fall, the MOL laid seven occupational health and safety charges against Glencore, as well as two against Steven Holmik, a colleague of Pigeau (COHSN, Oct. 25). Among the charges against the company were failing to take every reasonable precaution to protect a worker, interfering with objects at the scene of a workplace fatality, failing to keep equipment in good condition and failing to protect a worker’s safety through information, instruction and supervision.
The case made its way to court beginning in December. Glencore later pleaded guilty to failing to provide information, instruction and supervision to protect a worker’s safety, specifically regarding the use of seatbelts in a load haul dump. Local media reports have stated that the other eight charges against Glencore and Holmik were dropped.
Required by the Provincial Offences Act, the victim fine surcharge is a standard payment that goes to a special fund that assists crime victims, the Ministry noted.
Glencore extracts nickel and copper from three underground mines in the Sudbury area. Founded in 1922, the corporation runs additional mines in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Chile.