Abstract
Despite undeniable progress, the mining industry remains the scene of serious accidents revealing disregard for occupational health and safety (OHS) and leaving open the debate regarding the safety of its employees. The San José mine last collapse near Copiapó, Chile on 5 August 2010 and the 69-day rescue operation that followed in order to save 33 miners trapped underground show the serious consequences of neglecting worker health and safety. The aim of this study was to validate a new approach to integrating OHS into risk management in the context of a new open-pit mining project in Quebec, based on analysis of incident and accident reports, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and collaborative field observations. We propose a new concept, called hazard concentration, based on the number of hazards and their influence. This concept represents the weighted fraction of each category of hazards related to an undesirable event. The weight of each category of hazards is calculated by AHP, a multicriteria method. The proposed approach included the creation of an OHS database for facilitating expert risk management. Reinforcing effects between hazard categories were identified and all potential risks were prioritized. The results provided the company with a rational basis for choosing a suitable accident prevention strategy for its operational activities.
Highlights
Canada is a world leader in the mining industry and among the largest producers of minerals and metals [1]
In Canada, statistics published recently shows that the mining industry is among sectors with the highest injury incidence rate (IIR) [3]
According to recent CSST statistics based on five industrial sectors, the mining sector is ranked fourth with 792 job-related accidents and second with 156 cases of job-related illness [4]
Summary
Canada is a world leader in the mining industry and among the largest producers of minerals and metals [1]. The mining industry is a major contributor to the Canadian economy, employing 351,000 people in mineral extraction and related sectors and contributing $40 billion to the GDP in 2008 [1]. According to a recent study by the Quebec Mining Association [2], mineral extraction contributed. According to recent CSST statistics based on five industrial sectors, the mining sector is ranked fourth with 792 job-related accidents and second with 156 cases of job-related illness [4]. It is noteworthy that mining accidents have been reduced by 76% over the past 20 years [5] Despite this remarkable performance in Quebec and the positive trend in Canada, the mining industry has experienced several serious and fatal accidents
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