Open stope regulations inadequate - Jodi Blasutti

Editor’s note: Jodi Blasutti is a local miner and the co-vice-chair of Mining Inquiry Needs Everyone’s Support (MINES), a group pushing for an inquiry into mining practices in Ontario.

How can underground equipment fall into an open hole? Existing policies for underground marking and barricading of fall hazards for workers and machinery are not providing adequate safety.

The general term in an underground mine for a vertical hazard is known as an “open hole.” In many cases, these holes can have protective covers installed, eliminating the chance of falling.

These can be made of wood, installed to ministry specification, or a steel plug.

In the case of mobile equipment, a concrete stop block is the most common form of protection where a roadway intersects an open hole.

In this case, the LHD (load haul dump) equipment comes to a stop against the block, restricting it from any further movement ahead.

A serious problem arises, which has caused fatalities, where an operator of LHD equipment has mistakenly entered an open hole access where no stop block has been installed.

With a fully-loaded bucket elevated in front of the operator, the worker’s vision is greatly impaired.

Either through misinformation or mistaken access identification numbers, an operator of mobile equipment can enter an open stope access not having a stop block or other restraining device (a berm — an impeding pile of waste rock) and while being very cautious, can go past the point of no return.

In this case, the access was not intended for any mobile equipment. However, in that mobile equipment was not planned for, there is no restriction in place. This circumstance does not show due diligence by mine management.

Under legislation, all points of access to an open hole must have a stop block or other restrictive structure.

Where dumping is active in an open stope, a stop block should be used, versus a berm of waste rock, as this berm becomes dangerously depleted through repeated impacts from the scoop, and eventually provides little to no stopping force for the scoop operator.

Lighting is a big issue towards the safety of all operators. For a minimal amount of time and electrician involvement, lighting should be in place at all open-hole accesses, whether they are being used for dumping into the stope or not.

This may save the life of an equipment operator and therefore is not something to be cast aside for other work activities.

Many mining operations use different restrictive devices. This, in itself, is a safety hazard for the workers involved, as some may get used to a particular restrictive device in an open stope and if they start at a new operation, the policies for stop blocks/berms may be different.

Due to production procedure, returning from a holiday a worker could be in the dark about a current hazard, which may not have existed before his leave.

The aforementioned scenario happened not long ago to Lyle Dufoe, a worker who died in the Kidd Creek mine. Although experienced in these procedures, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and drove his LHD into an open stope.

There is no excuse for this, and it has happened before due to the negligence of proper restrictive devices not being installed at all drift accesses to open holes.

This incident and many other similar safety circumstances is proven evidence why an industry-wide mining inquiry is required to save future, needless fatalities.

Jodi Blasutti
Greater Sudbury