Editorial: Renewed focus on mine safety in Ontario

A newly released coroner jury’s verdict and recommendations stemming from the two-week inquest into the deaths of two miners at Vale’s underground Stobie nickel mine in Sudbury, Ont., in 2011 has met with wide approval from all players in the tragedy.

Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26, were killed on June 8, 2011, when a run of muck overcame them while they worked at the 3,000-foot level near the No. 7 ore pass. They were moving muck through a transfer gate when a sudden release of 350 tons of sandy muck and water broke through the gate. Both miners died from smothering and compressional asphyxia, and Chenier also suffered blunt-force injuries.

It turns out a crash gate into the area where the two were working had been left open, so the muck, which had been stuck in the ore pass, came loose and flooded the area.

After pleading guilty to three of six charges in 2013, Vale received the largest Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) fine ever issued in Ontario for the violations.

Of note, Clifford Bastien died in a similar accident at the Stobie mine in 1995, and an inquest into his death had recommended putting workers out of harm’s way by locating all control valves outside the Ross Feeder control/gate.

The Chenier-Fram inquest, presided over by coroner David Eden, repeated those recommendations, specifying that no worker should “be positioned so that he or she may be endangered by an uncontrolled run of material, water or slime, while operating controls for moving material,” the document states.

The three-woman, one-man Chenier-Fran jury accepted eight recommendations suggested and agreed upon by Vale, United Steelworkers Local 6500, the Ministry of Labour and the families of Chenier and Fram, and added 16 of its own in order to improve mine safety in Sudbury and across Ontario and Canada.

The jury’s first recommendation was that Ontario’s Ministry of Labour implement the recommendations of the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review regarding water management in mines and the internal responsibility system.

This review panel had been struck by the provincial government in December 2013 in response to pressure from the two miners’ families and mine workers. It published a 66-page report on April 15, 2015, assisted by an advisory group that spent 16 months researching the province’s OH&S procedures and standards, including the effects of technological change, ground stability and water-management practices.

Other recommendations included having a supervisor attend workplaces when high-risk tasks are being performed, and ensuring that if there is a hazardous condition and the area is barricaded, work is only done after being authorized by a supervisor.

In the years since the 2011 tragedy, there have already been several investigations and 42 safety improvements by Vale in response to these investigations.

Jordan Fram’s sister Briana Fram attended the inquest every day along with family members, and told the Sudbury Star outside the Sudbury Courthouse that “we feel everything was covered and we’re proud of the work the jury did, along with our stand-ins and the Ministry of Labour.”

She said: “It feels as if now the doors are closed, and it’s an overwhelming feeling because … everything’s over. We now move on as a family and grieve again, once again.”

She said her brother would “be very proud at the work we’ve done, and I think everyone. You saw how much he was loved within that inquest. I think people will really take these [recommendations] to heart and really work towards making everything perfectly safe for everyone.”

When asked by the Star what her message was to miners, Fram replied: “Stay safe and come at the end of the evening, because your family loves you more than anything. Safety is always number one.”

In a process that could take a year or more, the Mining Legislative Review Committee will review the recommendations and, after reaching a consensus, pass advice to the Minister of Labour for consideration.