COCHRANE, ONT. — Detour Gold Corporation of Toronto was recently found guilty and fined following an incident at Detour’s gold mine north of Cochrane, Ont. in which a dump truck flipped and the driver was critically injured.
The Detour Lake gold mine is located 185 kilometres northeast of Cochrane.
A Ministry of Labour media statement said the worker was instructed to haul rock to the area at the top of a tailings dam. The time was 4 a.m. and heavy fog had rolled in, causing reduced visibility.
There was no protective berm on the side of the road where the rock was to be dumped. The rock being hauled was to be used by a bulldozer operator to widen the ramp and road and build a berm.
The worker reversed to the area where the rocks were to be dropped and the truck got too close to the edge of a narrow section of the road. The road gave way beneath the truck, which fell and flipped over onto its roof.
At the trial in Cochrane the justice of the peace heard berms provide both a physical barrier and a physical and visual guide for the equipment operators to prevent events such as this one. It was determined the incident constituted an offence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, section 25(2)(h): failing as an employer to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker. A conviction was registered Nov. 27, 2017 and the employer was sentenced Feb. 1 to a fine of $70,000.
The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act.
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