Former producer Dona Lake Gold Mine has been charged with three violations of Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act in connection with a critical-injury accident in 1994 at its mill near Pickle Lake, Ont.
The accident occurred Feb. 24, 1994, when David Seaton, 24, of Pickle Lake, was checking a pulley problem on a rented stacker conveyor belt. Seaton was on a ladder and lost his balance while dodging a rock which was rolling down the conveyor. When he reached out to steady himself, his hands caught between the conveyor belt and the drive pulley. Both hands were severed above the wrist.
The company was charged with (1) failing to provide an emergency pull cord on the conveyor system that was connected to a shutoff switch; (2) failing to provide guarding at the drive and take-up pulleys; and (3) failing to provide a safe work platform for inspecting, repairing or maintaining a stacker conveyor system and protection against material rolling down the conveyor. A company supervisor, Mark Melanson, formerly of Pickle Lake, faces similar charges to those made against the company. He was also charged with failing, as a worker, to report the absence of emergency pull-cords and guards on the pulley-conveyor system.
The firm that rented the stacker conveyor system to Dona Lake, George Armstrong of Fort Frances, was charged with failing to equip the stacker conveyor with emergency pull cords and failing to equip the stacker conveyor with guards at the drive and take-up pulleys.
Companies face fines of up to $500,000 on each count and supervisors face fines of up to $25,000 per count for violations of the Act.
The first court appearance for all accused is scheduled for April 7 in Pickle Lake.
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