Mining company fined $50K for worker’s critical injury in 2020

A mining company based in Toronto has been fined $50,000 for a workplace injury at a job site near Thunder Bay in January 2020. (File)

A mining company based in Toronto has been fined $50,000 for a workplace injury at a job site near Thunder Bay in January 2020.

Impala Canada Ltd. owns a mining company that operates the Lac Des Iles Mine, an open-pit and underground palladium mine located near Highway 527 North, Raith Township, Thunder Bay District.

The worker fell almost three metres while they were installing a silencer on a fan in the Lac Des Iles Mine’s ventilation system, which provides fresh air, removes or dilutes noxious fumes and regulates temperatures underground.

“The ventilation system includes large 122-centimetre diameter industrial fans, which are equipped with equally large, cylindrical steel silencers to dampen the fans’ operating noise,” said a news release Wednesday from the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

“The worker was using a mobile scissor lift work platform as a work surface while affixing a silencer to the ventilation system. The scissor lift included guardrails that could be removed for loading equipment onto its platform while at ground level.”

The Lac Des Iles Mine had a standard operating procedure in place for operating the scissor lift, which the worker had reviewed earlier that month. The standard operating procedure required all guardrails be secured in place while working on the scissor lift platform.

“However, the worker and two colleagues removed the guardrails to load the silencer onto the platform and lift it to the level of the fan,” the ministry said.

“While the scissor lift was elevated, the worker stepped off the back of the platform, fell almost three metres and suffered critical injuries.”

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The Provincial Offences Court in Thunder Bay ruled that Impala failed to ensure measures and procedures prescribed by the Mines and Mining Plants Regulation were carried out in the workplace.

Following a guilty plea, the company was fined $50,000 by Justice of the Peace Denette Ellard. The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.

The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.