Workplace Injury Results in $135,000 Fine for Vancouver Mining Company

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Convicted: DMC Mining Services Ltd., 745 Thurlow Street, Suite 2400, Vancouver, British Columbia, an underground mining company

Location of Workplace: Victoria Mine, approximately 35km west of the city of Sudbury

Description of Offence: A worker was injured while removing an extra power cable from the wall of a mine shaft. The company failed, as an employer, to take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to section 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Date of Offence: October 22, 2024

Date of Conviction: December 8, 2025

Penalty Imposed:

• Following a guilty plea in the Ontario Provincial Offences Court in Sudbury, the company was fined $135,000 by Her Worship Sharon Ashick; Crown Counsel was Graeme Adams.
• The court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background:

• Three workers were removing an extra power cable from the wall of a mine shaft while working on a suspended platform.
• The workers, working from the top down, decided to remove the cable by cutting the metal bands securing it to the shaft walls and coiling the cable on the platform.
• To make room on the platform, one worker stood inside the coiled cable, creating a pinching hazard.
• As they were finishing the task, the free end of the cable fell below the platform, causing the coil to tighten around the worker.
• The worker was injured as a result.
• An investigation by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development found that the company did not ensure workers removed the cable in a way that reduced risk-starting from the bottom to the top and without standing inside the coiled cable.
• Therefore, DMC Mining Services Ltd. did not take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker, contrary to clause 25(2)(h) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

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