The mining sector is an integral part of Ontario’s economy. With revenues of about $11 billion a year, the sector (underground and surface mining) employs over 26,000 Ontarians directly and creates over 50,000 indirect jobs. It also fuels a vast number of other industries and sectors.

Ontario’s miners work in environments that are subject to various types of occupational health and safety hazards. They are also part of an evolving sector that is making greater use of new technologies and changing processes. Given the risks associated with increasingly complex mining environments, occupational health and safety is paramount.

As the following charts show, the number of lost-time injury claims made to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in the mining sector has decreased over the past decade; however the number of worker fatalities has not.

In December 2013, the Minister of Labour asked the Chief Prevention Officer to undertake a Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Review (the Review). The objective of the Review was to examine the occupational health and safety needs of the mining sector. The Review, which focused on underground mining, sought to:

  • assess current and emerging occupational health and safety issues in the mining sector
  • describe the state of health and safety in Ontario mines
  • review past recommendations from public enquiries into mining health and safety and from Coroner’s inquests into mining fatalities
  • make recommendations to enhance and improve mining health and safety.

Its findings and recommendations, if implemented, will help those who work underground go home healthy and safe at the end of every shift. They will also help maintain a productive and innovative mining sector across our province.

Table 1 - Lost-time Injury Rates Ontario Mining Sector 2004-2013 footnote 2 footnote 3
Year Allowed Lost-time injuries per 100 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) workers
2004 1.9
2005 1.6
2006 1.5
2007 1.4
2008 1.3
2009 1
2010 1.1
2011 1.3
2012 0.9
2013 0.8
Table 2 - Traumatic Fatalities Ontario Mining Sector 2004-2014 footnote 4
Year Number of Claims
2004 3
2005 1
2006 3
2007 4
2008 2
2009 1
2010 0
2011 6
2012 2
2013 2
2014 6
Table 3 - Allowed Fatal Occupational Disease Claims Ontario Mining Sector 2004-2013 footnote 5
Year Allowed Occupational Disease Fatality Claims
2004 20
2005 32
2006 16
2007 15
2008 17
2009 18
2010 21
2011 14
2012 8
2013 10
Table 4 - Top 7 Incident Categories associated with Critical and Fatal Injuries – 2000-2014 footnote 6 footnote 7
Incident Classification Number of Reported Fatal Injuries Number of Reported Critical Injuries
Power haulage and transportation off site 12 56
Falls of ground 8 46
Slips, fall of person 5 102
Run of material 5 2
Falling, rolling or sliding rock or material of any kind 4 41
Machinery 4 30
Vessels under pressure 3 9

Footnotes