Agrium, union deal with hard questions after second accident
While workers at Agrium Inc.’s Vanscoy potash mine struggle with the aftermath of a second major accident this month, the company and the miners’ union are wrestling with difficult questions about safety deep underground.
“The training is extensive, there’s lots of it, (but) there’s obviously some sort of gaps if we’re having incidents, right? Something’s missing. We’ve got to figure out what that is,” said Darrin Kruger, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7552.
An unidentified miner was airlifted to hospital in Saskatoon around 11 a.m. Sunday after suffering serious injuries at the mine, located about 30 kilometres southwest of the city.
Kruger said the man is in stable condition and “doing as well as expected” after undergoing emergency surgery late Sunday. Citing privacy concerns, the union leader declined to identify the miner or describe his injuries.
It is not “obvious” how the miner was injured, but two other workers administered first aid before he was rushed to hospital, said Todd Steen, general manager of Agrium’s Vanscoy operation.
Agrium, the union and government officials are now investigating two accidents at the mine. On Aug. 8, 29-year-old Chad Wiklun was crushed between two pieces of equipment, leading to his death two days later.
The company is a good employer and takes the safety of its workers seriously, but the fact that there have been two serious accidents at its sole Saskatchewan mine this month is a concern, Kruger said.
“Is it policy-procedure gaps? Is it training gaps? Is it complacency? What are we missing? Because if we had everything crossed or checked off, then we wouldn’t be having incidents.”
Steen said while Agrium continues to believe the risks inherent to potash mining can be identified and mitigated, the second accident at the Vanscoy mine this month has raised difficult questions for the company, as well the workers’ union.
“I think when you have two incidents this significant, this close together, you have to ask yourself what’s going on. You have to ask yourself, ‘What are we missing? What are our gaps?’ ” Steen said.
The accidents reported this month are not the first for Agrium’s Vanscoy mine. A 59-year-old electrician died after he was struck by a hanging load in 2010; three years later, a 25-year-old contractor died after a 20-metre fall.
A 2014 fire trapped more than 50 miners underground for 15 hours and a 2006 falling rock incident left a 29-year-old miner paralyzed.
Kruger said USW Local 7552 plans to develop new and better safety procedures in conjunction with Agrium and the government. Steen said a collaborative approach to safety tends to yield the best results, and that reviews are ongoing.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety confirmed Monday that the government is “reviewing ” the latest incident.
Government inspectors review every incident and accident reported by provincially-regulated companies, said Ray Anthony, executive director of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) division.
“Essentially, they’re looking to see how you’ve trained, supervised and equipped your workers,” Anthony said, noting that some employers, including mines, are also subject to much more specific regulations.
If an inspector believes a company has violated legislation or regulations governing workplace safety, OHS launches an investigation, the results of which are submitted to Crown prosecutors, who determine whether charges are warranted, he said.