Safety First, Says Donkin Coal Mine Manager
Donkin Mine.
[Click image to enlarge]
Government officials say 10 compliance orders and 29 warnings issued to the Donkin Mine were mostly “non-imminent danger” violations.
“No lives were ever at risk as a result of any of these violations,” said Scott Nauss, the senior director of inspection and compliance with the Nova Scotia Labour Department’s occupational health and safety division, regarding the warnings issued during the mine’s first three and a half months of operation.
It is difficult to determine if the number of violations is high because this is the first mine operating under new provincial regulations, Nauss said.
“I would expect a large operation like this, operating in a heavily regulated environment, there will be some non-imminent danger violations along the way and that’s for the most part what we are seeing,” he said.
“The company appears to be very committed to safety from what we see. We point out violations and they address them quickly.”
The Donkin Mine is owned by Kameron Collieries, a Halifax subsidiary of the Cline Group. Production began in February.
The occupational health and safety division provided a copy of the workplace inspections at the mine to the Cape Breton Post.
Issues identified included water barriers not meeting code in the event of an emergency evacuation, bump checks not completed as well as improper record keeping.
Nauss said the only imminent dangerous situation occurred March 22 during an ice storm when a power outage impacted the mine’s ventilation system.
When the power goes out, the mine is evacuated and a backup generator should kick in however the backup generator had not been commissioned by Nova Scotia Power, a requirement under the electrical code.
“The stop work order was associated with (the power outage),” said Nauss, adding lives were not at risk because the mine had been evacuated before the backup generator should have started operating.
“The mine (officials have) been very co-operative up to this point and have complied with all our orders.”
Source: (August 4, 2017) Cape Breton Post
Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!
FREE eNews delivery service to your email twice-weekly. With a focus on lead-driven news, our news service will help you develop new business contacts on an on-going basis.
CLICK HERE to register your email address.
