HEATHER BOA Bullet News GODERICH – It’s been Sifto Canada Corp.’s policy for more than 15 years that when a worker is on foot in the salt storage dome at the Goderich salt mine, floor grates should be covered and conveyers locked out to prevent accidents, a mining inspector from the Ministry of Labour told a coroner’s inquest today.
Alan Thibert told the jury the company was in compliance with regulations laid out in Ontario’s Health and Safety Act on Aug. 25, 2009 when Murray Nesbitt died after a pile of salt on which he stood pulled him down when a conveyer unexpectedly started up. Prior to that, he had left the excavator, walked to the entrance of the dome where two co-workers were watching, and brought one worker back with him to help clear salt from an area where a fitting had broken.
“The machine is your guard. Whether you’re on the surface or underground, you don’t get out of that machine. If you have to, there’s a process of notification of supervisor,” Thibert said.
Ministry of Labour mining inspectors Thibert and Rick Shulist, who routinely visit the mine for proactive inspections, were on site shortly after the accident to begin an investigation. During their site investigation, they used a variable reach forklift, referred to as a zoom boom, to take aerial photos of the excavator and salt pile. It took three days to safety remove the excavator at the base of a vertical front of salt. More than a dozen people involved in the incident were interviewed.
Out of it all, two orders were issued to the mine: one requiring that when workers enter the salt storage dome, the open hole must be covered or filled; and a second stop work order that nobody enter a dome with an open hole unless it were covered.
When asked if he had any recommendations for change, Thibert suggested a remote or radio controlled system in the loader or excavator to shut down the overhead tripper that throws salt down from a trolley in the event an emergency requires the worker to leave the vehicle. In that case, the worker would be backtracking an area cleared of salt and would be able to see the grates. However, he added it is not a legislated requirement.
He said in any other case, the worker should remain in the vehicle and call a supervisor to activate procedure to get out of the dome.
Thibert rejected a system of alarms and flashing lights to indicate when the conveyer starts up that has been installed since the accident.
“If there’s not supposed to be any persons in the dome, it shouldn’t matter,” he said.
Al Robb, who is co-chair of the mine’s health and safety committee, presented a Goderich mine investigation report completed with joint representation from management and the union. It made more than a dozen recommendations after interviews with employees.
Among recommendations was a call for the system of lights and alarms in salt storage domes to warn workers when the conveyer was set to start. He said it was obvious that Nesbitt and co-worker Will Drennan didn’t realize the conveyers were starting up.
“If there had been an alarm there to warn them, it might have got their attention and they might have realized they were standing over an open chute possibly. It’s not the place to be,” he said.
On the night Nesbitt died, Drennan had to leave him buried shoulder deep in salt because he didn’t have a radio handy and had to run to the basement to pull a chord that would shut off the conveyer.
Robb also told the jury it’s not required in procedure that workers carry radios, unless they are alone. There is a bank of radios above ground and another below from which workers could take a radio if they chose to. He suggested workers be assigned radios, picking them up at the same time they get their cap lamps.
George Boutilier, who is processing superintendent at the mine, told the jury supervisors in his department have been authorized to purchase radios and make them available for crews working on the underground belt, shaft and surface. There are four departments at the mine.
The jury also heard from an ergonomist from the Ministry of Labour, a paramedic, a salt mine worker, a union certified worker and co-chair of the mine’s health and safety committee, and the mine’s processing supervisor, which wrapped up testimony.
Tomorrow, the parties who have been granted standing to participate in the inquest – the family Murray Nesbitt, who are represented by son Jeff Nesbitt; Sifto Canada Corp., represented by Rosalind Cooper of Fasken Martineau; union representative Jim Vance, representing Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 16-O – may make arguments and submissions, comment on evidence presented and suggest recommendations to the jury. Coroner’s counsel, Teresa Donnelly, will make a final comment to the jury and the coroner, Dr. Rick Mann, will charge the jury. Then the jury will deliberate on its verdict and recommendations.
