This Comment on mine workers’ safety appeared in the January 27, 2016 edition of allnovascotia.com in response to the article “Moral Mining,” written by Kevin Cox on January 21, 2016 regarding the development of a new underground coal mine “the Donkin Coal Mine” in Cape Breton.
Kevin Cox is absolutely right.
I represented the United Steelworkers, the Union for the surviving miners, at the Westray Inquiry. Kevin covered it for the Globe and Mail.
The inquiry evidence showed that at every turn, production demands prevailed over safety.
A weak inspectorate, poor regulations and a political climate that gave mine operators excessive influence over public policy left workers unprotected.
The consequences were catastrophic.
There have been many changes to our Occupational Safety regime since Westray, the most significant being the development of the internal responsibility system and its emphasis on joint responsibility for safety among workers, employers and regulators. However, we cannot assume that will be enough to protect workers in the new mine.
Twenty years ago, in his report on the Westray tragedy, Justice Richard recognized that there is no substitute for a well trained, motivated team of safety professionals backed by rigorous regulations.
That is what we will need if a new underground coal mine is to operate safely.