Drillers need to cut lost-time injuries says MAPAO director

The increase in Ontario Workers’ Compensation Board assessment rates for the diamond drilling industry may not be a true reflection of the industry’s history of improving safety on the job, but it is an indication of how the industry is perceived by legislators.

Assessment rates have increased almost 5-fold since 1975, to $14.29 per unit of revenue in 1989 from $3 per unit.

But that increase is not a true indication of on-the-job injuries in the industry.

“I suspect the truth is that there is a disproportionate number of injuries and that, of these, the very nature of the work and the remoteness of the locations brings them to the attention of the medical practitioners,” said Coughlan during a speech at the Canadian Diamond Drillers Association recent annual convention in Quebec City.

“In other words, the peculiar circumstances are such that injuries which would be low severity, low cost (in other industries) assume the characteristics of high severity, high cost.”

Coughlan, who worked in the mining industry before moving to the MAPAO, said he remembers the job of diamond drillers as one of “rotating machinery, snow, ice, water, noise and I guess most of all, periods of feverish ac tivity punctuated by periods of just hard work.”

Diamond drillers, he said, “stood apart from the others in the mine and a certain mystique surrounded them. They were masters of ingenuity and self reliance. They worked alone in the remote areas, the untravelled levels, off the road in the bush and they were paid by the foot.

“The people were highly skilled and in most cases closely supervised. I don’t remember that accidents were any more prevalent in diamond drilling than in any other industry segment.

“Today’s perceptions are much different. Rightly or wrongly, the industry is seen as a high risk, high frequency, high cost safety performer.”

Coughlan made some specific recommendations on how the industry could address that problem. For example, he suggested a universal first aid training program for the industry could allow some of those “low severity, low cost” injuries to be treated on site rather than in a hospital.

“The value of first aid as a post event treatment both from the accident cost and from the total loss point of view is known. There is, as well, consensus that first aid instills in people an inherent hazard awareness which in itself is the single most valuable prevention tool.”

He also suggested that a comprehensive skills training program be undertaken and that workers be made aware of the problems and considerations involved in transportation and communication on the site and to and from the site.

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