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The general manager of the Agrium Vanscoy mine is reacting after a worker was seriously injured on the job. The incident comes a few weeks after another miner, 29-year-old Chad Wiklun, died of injuries sustained on the job.
“It’s an absolute low of my entire career,” Todd Steen said on Wednesday.
The second injury came just as the mine was gearing towards full operations after being shut down in the wake of Wiklun’s death. While details of the latest incident are still unclear, Steen said it occurred underground on Sunday morning.
“We’d be lying to ourselves if we had two incidents like this and tried to say we didn’t have a problem,” he said.
“There’s obviously some things we need to do better and that has to be done with tremendous urgency … We can’t be complacent. We have to do better.”
Occupational Health and Safety is currently investigating both incidents. The oversight body said before these events, there were no discernable issues with safety at Agrium Vanscoy compared to other mines across Saskatchewan.
Wiklun was pinned between two pieces of equipment in the mine in the early morning hours of Aug. 8. He died a few days later from his injuries. The worker seriously hurt Sunday is expected to recover.
Steen said the incidents have shaken the workforce.
“It devastates everybody, it affects the whole place,” he said. “I would say people are sad.”
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan, Sask Polytechnic and the International Minerals Innovation Institute have been looking into mine safety across the province since early 2015. Working with six mining companies in Saskatchewan, they’ve been examining ways in which safety can be improved.
“The mining industry always take safety very seriously,” said Engin Ozbark, former executive director of the research project.
Ozbark didn’t comment on the Agrium Vanscoy incidents specifically, but spoke generally of his observations of the industry. He said while companies can put in as many safety protocols as they want, some responsibility still lies with workers.
“The attitude of the individuals, the attitude of the groups are really important,” he said. “Getting away from the mentality of ‘it’s not going to happen to me.'”
At Agrium Vanscoy, Steen said staff don’t seem hesitant as they go about their jobs.
“I don’t think that our people fear coming to work,” he said. “I think they understand we expect them to bring forward their safety concerns, and that we’ll listen at all times.”
-With files from Brent Bosker.
