B.C.’s Environmental Appeal Board has upheld a $140,000 fine handed to a coal mining company after a contracted mechanic suffered “life-altering” injuries while changing a tire at its Elkford, B.C., operations.
Mining company, now operating as Elk Valley Resources, was fined after ‘life-altering’ injuries to mechanic
Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News
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B.C.’s Environmental Appeal Board (EAB) has upheld a $140,000 fine handed to a coal mining company after a contracted mechanic suffered “life-altering” injuries while changing a tire at its Elkford, B.C., operations.
Teck Coal was fined in January 2022, three years after a Jan. 28, 2019, explosion at the Greenhills mine in southeast B.C.
In a decision released last week, the EAB detailed how the worker — a contractor who was employed by Maxam Explosives Inc. — was severely injured after a truck wheel exploded at a workshop located within the mine. According to a Teck investigation, the explosion came as a component of the tire’s rim was likely installed improperly.
The province’s chief inspector of mines — representing the agency regulating mining workplaces in the province — was tasked with investigating the case.
Teck was eventually handed a $140,000 fine after being given an opportunity to respond to the investigation, with the government agency finding that Teck had contravened regulations requiring mine managers to “ensure workers are adequately trained to do their job.”
Teck appealed the fine, arguing the process was not procedurally fair and that it had done its due diligence in the case. However, those arguments were rejected by the Environmental Appeal Board.
“I have found that the process before the [mining inspector] was fair; the [inspector] applied the legislative scheme and Ministry policy in assessing the administrative penalty and exercised judgment based on those considerations,” the appeal board wrote.
Teck’s B.C. coal mining facilities, now operating as Elk Valley Resources, were acquired by Swiss commodities giant Glencore in July 2024.
Elk Valley Resources said it was aware of the EAB decision and was committed to protecting its workers and contractors.
“We have worked with our supplier to create a safer option in a single piece medium duty wheel that is now used across our operations,” the company said in a statement.
Experienced worker
The EAB found that the worker, who was not named in the appeal decision, had received certification as a heavy-duty mechanic in 2010 and worked for nearly a decade before the explosion.
Months after he was injured, he told the mining inspector that he had not received warnings about the hazards associated with the type of truck wheels he was working with and had not received training about how to avoid those dangers.
The inspector also spoke to other employees of the mining contractor, who all told them that they weren’t made aware of the risks associated with multi-piece wheel assembly changes.
“The [mining inspector]Â concluded that, because the hazards associated with handling wheels with split rim assemblies were not identified in the Workplan, the Workplan did not identify training necessary to mitigate or prevent the hazards from materializing,” the decision reads.
Unsuccessful arguments
Teck argued that the mining inspector was incorrectly classifying the contracted employee as an employee of the mine itself and that its duties owed to its own workers were not the same as those owed to contractors.
“In the alternative, [Teck]Â asserts it was unnecessary to have provided the Mechanic with any training because the Contractor required the Mechanic to hold valid mechanic certification,” the decision reads.
However, the mining inspector argued that having valid mechanic certification alone did not absolve Teck of providing training specifically regarding multi-piece wheel assemblies.
The EAB agreed with the inspector, finding that Teck did control the training of the contractor’s workers. It also rejected the company’s argument it had conducted due diligence prior to the explosion.
Teck also argued the $140,000 fine amount was arbitrary, but the EAB found that the mining inspector had adjusted the amount down from a base penalty of $200,000.
That came after the contractor adopted a new training regime regarding wheel changes following the explosion, the board found.
While the EAB largely ruled in favour of the mining inspector, it rejected the inspector’s request to fine Teck over its appeal.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Akshay Kulkarni is an award-winning journalist who has worked at CBC British Columbia since 2021. Based in Vancouver, he is most interested in data-driven stories. You can email him at akshay.kulkarni@cbc.ca.
