Inco slapped with fine after death of worker

The Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury has levied a $375,000 fine against Inco (N-T) nearly three years after the death of Gordon Heffern at the Copper Cliff nickel refinery.

Inco pleaded guilty to “failing, as an employer, to provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of a worker.” It is the largest single death-related fine in the history of the province.

The fine is the result of a negotiated settlement between Inco and the Ministry of Labour whereby the company pleaded guilty to one count and four other charges were dropped.

A 25% victim surcharge was applied to the fine, bringing the total to almost $470,000. The surcharge of nearly $94,000 goes into a special fund to assist victims of crime.

The death occurred in late July 2001, when Heffern, a shift foreman who had been with Inco for 27 years, was testing a shutoff valve in an oxygen-piping system at the refinery. Heffern had shut off the valve and reopened it without equalizing the pressure on both sides. With the difference in pressure, gas was travelling through the valve at a high speed, resulting in an explosion. Heffern had burns to more than 80% of his body and was rushed to a special burn unit in Buffalo, N.Y., but died two days later.

A Ministry of Labour investigation determined that the most probable cause of the explosion was ignition of hydrocarbon grease inside the valve. Unknown to Inco, the grease had not been cleaned out by a contractor prior to delivery in 1996. Inco had no formal procedure in place for testing or operating oxygen line valves.

Following the accident, Inco hired an independent consultant to look at ways to improve the safety of the oxygen systems at its Sudbury operations. The company subsequently spent $1.5 million upgrading to the oxygen system at the Copper Cliff refinery. All employees who use the oxygen system now receive training.

“It was a tragic accident,” says Inco spokesman Cory McPhee. “Mr. Heffern was not only a loss to Inco, but a loss to the Sudbury community. We look forward to having the court case behind us and moving on.”

Since 1981, there have been nine deaths at Inco’s operations, and the company has been convicted 13 times of health and safety violations.

An inquest will begin now that the criminal proceedings are over.

Heffern was 46 when he died. He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and children Daren and Angela.