Kameron Coal Management Ltd, owner of the Donkin coal mine, has received 14 warnings, 19 compliance orders and eight administrative penalties or fines since re-starting operations in September 2022.
The CBC published a full list of the violations and it is impressive:
Orders:
Sept. 21 – Failure to designate qualified personnel to trades positions.
Sept. 21 – Failure to maintain pull cords along conveyors.
Oct. 6 – Order prohibiting the use of a piece of equipment that caused injury to an employee.
Oct. 6 – Requirement for an assessment report on a mechanical equipment failure.
Oct. 24 – Unqualified employee performing electrical work.
Nov. 1 – Employer’s mobile equipment operational procedure not fully implemented.
Nov. 8 – Conditions defined in the director’s approval not fully adhered to.
Nov. 8 – Operating equipment in a manner that was not in accordance with conditions set in the director’s approval.
Nov. 18 – Failure to follow the conditions contained in the director’s approval.
Nov. 18 – Failure to follow the conditions contained in the director’s approval.
Nov. 18 – Employer’s mobile equipment operational procedure not fully implemented.
Dec. 14 – Failure to follow the conditions contained in the director’s approval.
Dec. 14 – Requirement for an assessment report on the ventilation system.
Dec. 21 – Unapproved electrical equipment taken into the mine.
Dec. 21 – Unapproved equipment taken in the mine that could produce heat or fire.
Dec. 21 – Failure to maintain pull cords along conveyors.
Dec. 21 – Employer’s procedure for maintaining fire doors not implemented.
Dec. 21 – Failure to follow conditions set in the director’s approval.
Dec. 21 – Improperly stored compressed gas cylinders.
Warnings:
Oct. 11 – A roof monitoring device found to be incorrectly installed.
Oct. 11 – Unapproved ventilation control device in use.
Oct. 11 – Minutes of the most recent [occupational safety and health] committee meeting not promptly posted.
Oct. 11 – Compliance orders not posted.
Oct. 11 – Improperly stored compressed gas cylinders.
Oct. 21 – Aerosol container improperly used.
Oct. 21 – No backup alarm on a piece of mobile equipment.
Oct. 21 – Equipment used in a manner not in accordance with employer’s procedure.
Nov. 1 – Flammable gas monitor calibration records not properly maintained.
Nov. 7 – Conditions set in director’s approval not fully implemented.
Nov. 7 – Ventilation equipment not located as per the approved plan.
Nov. 17 – Employer’s procedure for maintaining fire door equipment not fully implemented.
Dec. 13 – Hazard on walking surface.
Dec. 13 – Cache of stone dust not maintained at conveyor drive.
Administrative penalties:
Oct. 24 – Unqualified employee performing electrical work.
Nov. 17, Nov. 22 and Dec. 15 – Failure to comply with the conditions of the director’s approval.
Dec. 21 – Unapproved electrical equipment taken into the mine.
Dec. 21 – Failure to maintain pull cords along conveyors.
Dec. 21 – Failure to follow the conditions set in the director’s approval.
Dec. 21 – Improperly stored compressed gas cylinders.
Warning bells
Kameron didn’t comment on the violations (Kameron doesn’t seem to have a local spokesperson anymore) but Labour Minister Jill Balser assured the Canadian Press that the “risk to workers was low” and Fred Jeffers, executive director of the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration’s safety division, which oversees routine inspections at the mine, told the CBC:
The fact that the underground mine is just a very large and complicated workplace with a lot of things on the go, is something to obviously take into consideration.
But look at the that list of problems—an improperly installed roof monitoring device in a mine prone to roof falls? Unqualified employees performing electrical work in a coal mine? Improperly stored compressed gas cylinders?
At some point, shouldn’t the sheer volume of violations trigger warning bells?
These are rhetorical questions, of course. The province of Nova Scotia has decided to roll the dice on Donkin and won’t be easily dissuaded.
Although Michael Lea and the Cow Bay Coalition, a group of local residents, are trying. They have a number of concerns about the mine, including safety, noise and truck traffic. Lea told me they’d protested outside the latest meeting of Donkin’s Community Liaison Committee (CLC) on January 16.
“Sadly,” Lea told me in an email, “our District #8 Councilor and Deputy Mayor and CLC member James Edwards drove right past his constituents, showing blatant disregard to residents concerns.”
Way to liaise with the community, man.
