File photo of a salt storage area at Sifto Salt Mine.
HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – Sifto Salt Mine worker Murray Nesbitt slipped off the steel track of his broken down excavator and sunk into a shifting pile of salt, despite co-worker William Drennan’s efforts to keep a grip on him, a coroner’s inquest was told today.
Coroner Dr. Rick Mann and a five-member jury heard from six workers who recounted the events of the night of Aug. 25, 2009. Nesbitt brought his excavator into salt storage Dome 1 to break up high piles of salt so that Drennan could continue his task in the loader of pushing the salt toward the chutes, where the salt would drop to a conveyer belt that would carry it for loading in hatches on a boat. A conveyer belt unexpectedly started up while salt was being drained around the excavator to give Nesbitt and Drennan access to a broken fitting. Drennan had no hand-held radio and there was no radio in the excavator to call down to the basement and have the conveyer belt stopped. Instead, he ran to the basement to tug on a pull chord to shut it down, but by then Nesbitt, who had worked at the mine for three decades, had disappeared into the salt.
Drennan and other workers called to the scene used shovels to try to find Nesbitt, but the salt filled back in as they worked. Instead, the conveyer belt was started again to draw him downward, and eventually his feet came through the chute to the basement but the rest of him was stuck. The conveyer’s belt was cut to release Nesbitt.
All the workers pulled back when paramedics arrived. Vital signs were absent. He was transported to hospital and pronounced dead 12:35 a.m. on Aug. 26.
The coroner’s inquest also heard from pathologist Dr. John Vetters who conducted a post-mortem two days later and determined that in his opinion Nesbitt, 57, died of asphyxiation because his airway was blocked by salt and he couldn’t breath and his chest was compressed from falling down the chute.
Teresa Donnelly, who represents the public interests and acts as legal adviser to the coroner, led the witnesses through testimony, asking each of them whether change had been implemented at the mine to avoid similar accidents and whether they had recommendations for further change.
Workers said a weighted gate was installed at the entrance to the salt storage domes and entry is restricted to loaders and excavators. Pedestrian traffic is prohibited without an entry permit from a supervisor that requires certain safety measures, like placing pieces of plywood over chutes and using personal safety locks to lock out the conveyer belt. The chutes are now smaller, to prevent a person from becoming wedged in them. An alarm indicates startup of the conveyer belt and a light flashes while it runs.
As well, some say workers are assigned their own radio, although testimony was conflicting on that point.
Mine worker Larry Gaynor suggested the installation of an emergency stop just outside the entrance of the storage dome so that anyone passing by who saw an indication of trouble could immediately stop the conveyer belt.
People who have special interest in the coroner’s inquest and have been granted special standing also asked questions of the witnesses. Special standing was granted to: the family Murray Nesbitt, who are represented by son Jeff Nesbitt; Sifto Canada Corp., which operates the workplace and employed Nesbitt, represented by Rosalind Cooper of Fasken Martineau; union representative Jim Vance, representing Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 16-O.
In an address to the jury before the start of proceedings, Mann told the five members their job will be to answer five questions: who the decreased was, and how, when, where and by what means the deceased came to his death. He also encouraged them to make recommendations to prevent future deaths.
“If your recommendations are reasonable and practical, you may prevent deaths from happening again,” Mann said.
He told the jury it does not need to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, but, instead, the evidence needs to pass the “balance of probabilities test.” As well, findings do not have to be unanimous.
Tomorrow, the inquest will hear from another worker, paramedics, Ministry of Labour staff, and a health and safety worker at the mine. The inquest is expected to take five days.
