Lessons from the Westray Mine

In the spring of 1992, the Westray mine in Nova Scotia received the prestigious J.T. Ryan Award for Safety from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum as ‘the safest coal mine in Canada in 1991.’ Just 11 days later, on the morning of May 9, 1992 — only nine months after opening — the Westray mine exploded. When the dust cleared, 26 miners lay dead.

The force of the explosion blew the top off the mine entrance, shooting it more than a mile upward and decimating the mine’s steel roof supports. Nearby townspeople felt the effects of the blast; windows shattered and houses shook violently.

Legal investigations soon revealed that company officials had ‘fudged’ accident statistics. Evidence of stolen, hidden, altered and misleading records surfaced, along with findings of a blatant disregard for human safety. State-of-the-art equipment turned out to be not so state-of-the-art. The J.T. Ryan Award was later rescinded.

It is believed the tragedy was caused by an explosion of methane gas, which is a natural byproduct of coal. When methane gas is mixed with oxygen, it is combustible, which is why proper ventilation underground is so critical.

The presence of coal dust makes mining even more dangerous because a single spark can ignite the dust and travel through it as if it were gunpowder. It is therefore crucial to treat the coal dust with rock dust or ground limestone. Rock dust is heavier than coal dust, so it pushes the coal dust down to the mine floor and covers it so it will not explode.

Here are details of the explosion, a description closely echoing the Public Inquiry Report: “At 5:20 in the morning of May 9, 1992, a miner working in the southwest section of the Westray mine was using a continuous miner to cut coal. As he cut into the coal face, the picks on the cutting head struck some pyrite embedded there, causing a shower of sparks. He had seen the sparks before, but this time they ignited some methane gas seeping from the coal seam. He jumped down off the miner, terrified at what he saw as he tried to put on his survival equipment. In moments, he was dead.”

The public inquiry identified the following problems with the operation:

* Inadequate ventilation system design and capability; poor state of mine roof; frequent roof-falls; thick layers of coal dust; unacceptably high level of combustible matter; inadequate system to warn of high methane levels; lack of proper orientation and training;

* Inadequate follow-through from inspections; poor communication of standards; inadequate purchasing of rock dust; inadequate leadership in terms of assignment of responsibility; lack of safe work practices and procedures; inadequate engineering during mine design and planning;

* Poor correlation between management actions and official company policy concerning the relationship between safety and production; lack of compliance to industry practice and legislated standards; problems with methane concentrations, rock dusting, control of ignition sources underground, etc.

If the “floor, roof and sides of the road and the working places had been systematically cleared so as to prevent the accumulation of coal dust; if the “floor, road and sides of every road” had been treated with stone dust so that the resulting mixture would contain no more than 35% combustible matter (adjusted downward to allow for the presence of methane); and if the mine had been “thoroughly ventilated and furnished with an adequate supply of pure air to dilute and render harmless flammable and noxious gases,” then the May 9, 1992, explosion could not have happened, and 26 miners would not have been killed, the Inquiry concluded.

Curragh Resources, the owner of the Westray mine, was charged with 52 non-criminal counts of operating an unsafe mine. (The company eventually went bankrupt.) Two of the mine’s managers were charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter. A $30-million lawsuit was launched against the Province of Nova Scotia. All charges were eventually dropped. This was seen by many as an injustice by many.

The Westray mine disaster led to passing of Bill C45, an act to amend the Criminal Code of Canada. It became known as criminalization of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

As outlined by the Department of Justice in November 2002, the highlights of the bill are as follows:

* The criminal liability of corporations and other organizations will no longer depend on a senior member of the organization with policy-making authority (i.e., a ‘directing mind’ of the organization) having committed the offence.

* The physical and mental elements of criminal offences attributable to corporations and other organizations will no longer need to be derived from the same individual.

* The class of personnel whose acts or omissions can supply the physical element of a crime (actus reus) attributable to a corporation or other organization will be expanded to include all employees, agents and contractors.

* For negligence-based crimes, the mental element of the offence (mens rea) will be attributable to corporations and other organizations through the aggregate fault of the organization’s senior officers (which will include those members of management with operational, as well as policy-making, authority).

* For crimes of intent or recklessness, criminal intent will be attributable to a corporation or other organization where a senior officer is a party to the offence, or where a senior officer has knowledge of the commission of the offence by other members of the organization and fails to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop the commission of the offence.

* Sentencing principles specifically designed for corporate/organizational offenders will be adopted.

* Special rules of criminal liability for corporate executives will be rejected.

* An explicit legal duty will be established on the part of those with responsibility for directing the work of others, requiring such individuals to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm arising from such work.

In addition, section 217.1 of Canadian Criminal Code states (by effect of Bill C-45) that everyone who undertakes, or has the authority, to direct how another person does work or performs a task is under a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm to that person, or any other person, arising from that work or task.

It took a disaster like Westray to introduce new and powerful legal requirements for people who run and work in mines, factories and construction sites. Should the Westray Mine disaster happen today, non-criminal and criminal charges would not be dropped.

Such a significant change, one that likely has saved lives in mining and other industries, remains a commemoration to those who died in the Westray disaster.

Simon Fridlyand, P.Eng., is president of S.A.F.E. Engineering, a Toronto-based company specializing in industrial health and safety issues and PSR compliance. He can be reached 416-447-9757 or simonf@safeengineering.ca. For more information, visit www.safeengineering.ca.