This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province.
Ontario Mining Association member Kidd Operations, a Glencore Company, has been presented with the President’s Award for being the top safety performer by Workplace Safety North (WSN). The honour was bestowed at WSN’s inaugural workplace excellence awards and this honour recognizes continuous improvement in occupational health and safety.
“Everyone is really proud of the win,” said Tom Semadeni, General Manager for Kidd Operations, a Glencore Company. “It is really icing on the cake because earlier this year, we won the John T. Ryan award for the best safety performance for a Canadian metal mine. So it is further reinforcement that we’re on the right track.”
“I think it is great to promote success,” added Mr. Semadeni. “A lot of times businesses have a tendency to notice and follow up on things when they are going badly, or wrong, but you need to recognize success. We need to do that internally for our own business but also out in the public. Just having an award like this demonstrates to the public that there is a good commitment to improving.”
In May of 2013, the Kidd Operations in Timmins was presented with the John T. Ryan national safety trophy in the metal mine category for having the best reportable injury rate of all metal mines in Canada. This marked the 11th time Kidd Operations has earned this honour.
Other Ontario Mining Association members who have been acknowledged with safety awards by WSN throughout the year include AuRico Gold’s Young-Davidson Mine, Barrick Gold’s Williams Mine, Boart Longyear, Cementation Canada, Goldcorp’s Red Lake Gold Mines, J.S. Redpath, Kirkland Lake Gold and Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, a Glencore Company.
WSN is an independent not-for-profit health and safety organization, which is funded by a portion of the premiums employers pay to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. The WSN supports companies involved in Ontario’s mining, forestry, paper, printing and converting sectors and it also provides health and safety services to businesses in all sectors in Northern Ontario.
In 2010, WSN was formed through the amalgamation of three safety organizations – Mines and Aggregates Safety and Health Association, Ontario Forestry Safety Workplace Association and the Pulp and Paper Health and Safety Association.
According to an economic study by the University of Toronto – Mining: Dynamic and Dependable for Ontario’s Future – the mining industry in this province invests $1,800 per employee annually in training and health and safety initiatives. Overall, employees in the Ontario mining industry are safe, highly skilled, highly paid and highly productive.
While the safety performance of Ontario’s mining industry and its component operations day-in and day-out is certainly worthy of recognition, no one in the industry would consider it good enough until it reaches zero harm. Collective efforts on many fronts involving employers, workers, unions, safety agencies, such as WSN and the Prevention Council, and government are being taken to reach that goal.
Two safety related events being held in Ontario this month provide examples of the mining industry’s continued push for improvements on the safety front. The sixth International Mine Rescue Body conference and field trip is being held in Niagara Falls and Sudbury from October 5 to 13. Also, from October 20 to 22, the third annual symposium on “Safety in Mining: A reliable operation is a safe operation” is being held in Toronto. It is being jointly sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Mining and the Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration.