The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.
Jason Chenier spent his last days in early June as a supervisor at Vale’s Stobie Mine alerting management about the safety hazards related to excess water and other factors underground.
Chenier, 35, erected double guardrails at two levels of the mine to act as “shutdown signals” that the areas were unsafe.
The guardrails were removed under management’s direction and re-installed as many as three times in the next two days.
He e-mailed management with concerns about excess water in areas where employees were working.
On June 7, 2011, he e-mailed Vale management advising it “should not be dumping ore or blasting this ore until the water situation is under control.”
He expressed concerns about water in the 3715 ore pass, above the 3000 level, from which ore was being dumped into the No. 7 ore pass, a vertical tunnel through which rock is moved from one level to another.
On June 8, about 9:45 p.m., Chenier and miner Jordan Fram, 26, were killed when a run of muck — broken rock, mixed with sand and water — came down that No. 7 ore pass and overcame them at the 3000-foot level.
These are some of the findings in a report by the United Steelworkers after an eight-month investigation into the deaths of the two men that is being released today (Wednesday) at 10 a.m. at news conferences in Sudbury and Toronto.
The union concludes in its report that the failures it outlines “demonstrate a wanton and/or reckless disregard for the lives and safety of those working in Vale mines, in addition to demonstrating that Vale and its managerial officials and representatives failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm and death,” the report concludes.
The union and Vale conducted separate investigations into the mining deaths. The union says it co-operated with Vale in several interviews. It says Vale officials would not agree to be interviewed by the union investigation team.
USW makes 165 recommendations in its report, including three they consider critical.
It recommends Ontario’s assistant deputy attorney general act immediately to determine if criminal charges are warranted against Vale Ltd. officials in the June 8 deaths.
It calls on the Government of Ontario to launch a public inquiry into the causes of the deaths, and into underground mining safety in Canada, with emphasis on water management, monitoring and enforcement.
It asks the Ministry of Labour to review whether the Occupational Health and Safety Act and its enforcement are adequately safeguarding the safety of workers in underground mines and surface mining plants in Ontario.
The 200-page report was submitted Tuesday to the Ontario Ministry of Labour, which is conducting its own investigation.
In its report, the union alleges Chenier and Fram died because of “ongoing and documented neglect” of safety standards by Vale.
Their report shows the men were killed when a run of muck burst out of the No. 7 ore pass onto the 3000-foot level of the mine, burying them.
In Vale’s report on its investigation, released last month, the company said the men were overtaken by 350 tons of rock, sand and water that washed through an open crash gate at the 3000-foot level.
The union says the run of muck occurred after wet ore from the 2600-foot level got “hung up” and clogged the No. 7 ore pass at a narrow point above the 3000-foot level.
When investigators arrived at the scene, they found the crash gate open to the No. 7 pass. The union alleges the design of the bypass station at the 3000 level put the two men in “immediate harm’s way” from a run of muck.
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