Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER April 21, 2014 April 21, 2014 20 FEATURES FEATURES HEALTH & SAFETY Ontario's mining industry undertaking health and safety review Grassroots oversight, public consultation could shape H&S capacity, legislation By Megan Waqué M any people don't real- ize the role the mining industry has played in influencing health and safety legislation. Much of the lan- guage in Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) regarding worker, supervisor and employer duties was largely shaped by the recommendations of the Ham Commission Report of 1976. e reason for the Ham Com- mission? Uranium miners in El- liot Lake, Ont., had gone on strike after becoming alarmed about the high frequency of lung cancer and silicosis amongst co-workers. In 2003, Bill C-45 was passed — also known as the "Westray Bill." e federal bill made it possible to charge corporations, directors and executives under the Crimi- nal Code of Canada if employees are injured or fatally injured while at work. is legislation rose from the ashes of Nova Scotia's 1992 mine disaster in which 26 min- ers were killed in an underground explosion. Union representatives and families of the deceased min- ers persistently advocated for this bill for more than a decade. MINES and the MHSPR Today, a Mining, Health, Safety and Prevention Review (MH- SPR) is underway in Ontario, led by the Ministry of Labour's prevention offi ce and chaired by the province's chief prevention offi cer, George Gritziotis. e re- view was strongly advocated for by a grassroots movement called MINES (Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone's Support), formed in response to eight mining deaths that occurred in Ontario between 2011 and 2013. e review is "a huge leap for- ward toward ensuring the safety of the men and women working in industry," said MINES chairper- son Wendy Fram, whose son was fatally injured in an underground mine in 2011. e MHSPR is a one-year proj- ect that began in January 2014. It will take an in-depth look into mining health and safety practices and release interim reports as the year unfolds, as well as a fi nal re- port on mining health and safety at the end of this year. e review is heavily focused on public and stakeholder consul- tations taking place in the spring of 2014 across mining towns in Ontario including Sudbury, Tim- mins, Red Lake, London, Kirk- land Lake and Marathon. ey will gather information as to what the issues are, how they should be fi xed and what is required to fi x them. An advisory committee and a variety of working groups will look at specifi c issues, including the Internal Responsibility Sys- tem (IRS), the capacity of orga- nizations in the health and safety system, and issues relating to technology and risk assessment. Internal Responsibility System IRS was introduced as a concept by the Ham Commission in 1976. It outlines a key principle that em- ployers, supervisors and workers have a duty to work safely and inform each other of hazards and take every reasonable precaution for worker safety, as seen in part III of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It emphasizes that ev- eryone in the workplace shares a responsibility for health and safety, and workplace parties are in the best position to identify and address health and safety hazards. While the duties of workplace parties are outlined in the act, IRS is not — it can take on many forms and defi nitions. It has been described as a "dynamic prob- lem-solving tool" in which small problems (such as puddles or trip- ping hazards) are resolved at the worker level, where the worker is most likely to encounter this haz- ard fi rst and have the know-how to solve the problem. As problems increase in size and complexity, they move up the chain to supervisor or employer since large and complex hazards require substantial resources, planning and cross-organization- al co-ordination to solve. While roles and responsibilities help defi ne the structure of the IRS, the heart of the IRS is com- munication and culture — this is the grease that keeps its wheels and cogs moving. But do workplace parties un- derstand the IRS and their re- sponsibilities for each other's safety? Is the reporting of safety hazards encouraged and reward- ed? e mining review will look at how well the IRS is working in the mining industry, what barri- ers there are that prevent it from thriving, and what can be done to enhance the IRS. Capacity of current system While the IRS looks at the inter- nal structure of an organization, a health and safety system in On- tario serves as external support and enforcement for the IRS. Ministry of Labour inspectors visit worksites to verify compli- ance and have the authority to is- sue stop-work orders in the face of unsafe conditions. Health and safety associations provide the in- dustry with up-to-date health and safety information, training and consultants to work with fi rms to build safety programs and identify program gaps. e MHSPR will be examining if these two systems, prevention and enforcement, have not only the capacity but also the exper- tise and knowledge to meet the needs for support and conduct eff ective monitoring of the min- ing industry. Technology, risk assessment Mining is changing — the last two decades have seen mines reach staggering depths, new ef- ficiencies and the continuous introduction of new technology. Without a doubt, new equipment and innovative methods lead to safer practices, but with every new procedure or product, there is the potential for the introduc- tion of new hazards to the mining environment. e mining review is seeking information on how new tech- nology is introduced to the work- place, how an eff ective risk assess- ment is completed and acted on, and how to promote best prac- tices within the industry. It holds great potential, through grassroots oversight and extensive public consultation, to once again help shape Ontario's health and safety capacity and legislation through its fi nal report and rec- ommendations. If the past is any indication, these recommenda- tions have the potential to cascade across all industries, making On- tario a safer place to work. Megan Waqué is the North Bay, Ont.-based stakeholder communica- tions specialist at Workplace Safety North, an independent, not-for-profi t health and safety organization funded by a portion of the premiums member workplaces pay to the Workplace Safe- ty and Insurance Board. She can be reached at (705) 474-7233 ext. 250 or meganwaque@workplacesafetynorth. ca. For more information, visit www. workplacesafetynorth.ca. Credit: Euan Rocha (Reuters) A driller extracts a drill core at an exploration site at a gold mine located northwest of Kirkland Lake, Ont. Mining is changing — the last two decades have seen mines reach staggering depths, new effi ciencies and the introduction of new technology.

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