Safety must be a priority for exploration industry

In the fall of last year, the prospecting industry in Ontario received notice from the Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) that its assessment rates for 1990 would be raised by a staggering 15%. The increase, 5% above the board- imposed cap on rate increases, marked the maximum rate increase that the WCB is legally allowed to impose. This year, employers in the industry in Ontario are being required to pay $4.61 for every $100 of payroll to the WCB. Discussions with WCB representatives have concluded that the 1990 increase will likely be the first in a series of substantial increases over the next two years or so, or until the rate group (109) is brought “into balance,” i.e., until the industry payments equal or exceed the costs incurred for this group.

Over the past two years, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada has been involved in discussions with the WCB to determine, first, the reasons for the massive 1990 increase and, second, ways in which similar increases might be avoided in future years. Our discussions revealed some interesting findings which have implications not only for the prospecting sector in Ontario but for other provinces too.

First, the prospecting group appeared to be ill-defined for assessment purposes. Included was a variety of occupations, for example, diamond drill contractors, geophysical contractors, consulting firms, land surveyors, and underground workers. If one bears in mind that higher-risk jobs inevitably incur higher assessment rates, then it is clear that the inclusion of occupations known to be more dangerous, for example, underground workers, will push up the assessment rate in a group quite dramatically.

Group 109 seems to have been regarded as a leaky basket for assessment purposes. The PDAC is working with the WCB to plug the holes in the basket with recommendations for reclassifying occupations where necessary.

Second, WCB records reveal that, in 1989, 9% of the companies contributing to group 109 accounted for 80% of the costs. In other words, there are only a few bad apples but they are doing a good job of spoiling the barrel. The PDAC is in the process of contacting the companies making up the 9% to point out their poor cost to recovery ratio and the implications of their poor safety record, both for the group as a whole and for the image of this sector.

To assist these companies and others to improve their safety performance, the association is currently working on the development of safety standards for the exploration industry in Canada. WCB statistics point to the value of training in safety by revealing that permanent employees (who are more likely to have been trained in safety procedures) tend to have a lower accident record than employees hired on a temporary basis.

Measures have already been adopted to improve the industry’s safety performance on a regional basis. The best example of this is in British Columbia. Following two years of co-operative efforts by representatives from labor, industry and government, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources has issued a new Health, Safety and Reclamation Code designed to make the province’s mining industry the safest and most environmentally sensitive in Canada. We encourage other provincial mines ministries to follow the example set by British Columbia.

Poor safety records adversely affect all members of the exploration industry. In most cases, they can be improved. The PDAC’s mandate is to bring about this improvement as soon a possible.

Nelson Baker is chairman of the PDAC’s Compensation and Safety Committee.