GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Alberta’s labour ministry has laid 12 charges against D & J Isley & Sons Contracting Ltd., for its role in a vehicular accident that injured two employees more than two years ago. The incident occurred on Aug. 7, 2015, when an equipment operator was driving himself and another worker to the company’s Grande Prairie worksite in an all-terrain vehicle, according to an undated announcement posted on the Alberta Labour website in early Sept. 2017. When the vehicle reached an inclined road, it stalled and began to roll downhill; the brakes failed, so the equipment operator steered the vehicle into a ditch. On July 14 of this year, the provincial government charged D & J Isley with two violations of Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, four of the OHS Regulation and six of the OHS Code, the announcement stated. Charges included failing to ensure that equipment was free of defects, that workers were trained to operate equipment safely and that workplace hazards had been identified and eliminated or controlled.

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.

BARRIE, Ont. – A provincial court has ordered the Corporation of the Town of Innisfil to pay a fine of $100,000, plus a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, for its role in an incident in which a worker was knocked unconscious early last year. A court bulletin from the Ontario Ministry of Labour (MOL) stated that three municipal workers were moving equipment and machinery onto a trailer on Jan. 27, 2016, when a two-metre-high shelving unit struck the side of the trailer and fell onto one of the employees. The worker was knocked out for a considerable amount of time and left with critical injuries. A subsequent MOL investigation found that the employer had failed to use a competent signaller when the trailer operator did not have a full view of the intended travel path. The Town of Innisfil later pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Barrie to violating Section 56 of the Industrial Establishments Regulation, and Justice Cecile Applegate passed sentence on Aug. 30 of this year.

SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety has convicted and fined a Kelvington-based employer for its involvement in the death of a worker three years ago. According to a news release from the Ministry, the incident occurred on an unspecified date in 2014, at a worksite near Mankota, Sask.; an employee of 101186505 Saskatchewan Ltd. was operating a packer at the site when the vehicle rolled over him, resulting in fatal injuries. The company later pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the worker had used a restraining device while operating powered mobile equipment, while another charge was dropped. On Aug. 22 of this year, the employer was fined $50,000, plus a $20,000 surcharge, in Swift Current Provincial Court. “Workplace injuries, illness and fatalities are preventable,” the release stated. “Working together, we can ensure everyone gets home safe and sound every day.”