Agrium fined for Vanscoy mine accident

Calgary-Agrium Inc. on June 4 pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to provide a safe workplace, and has been fined $180,000 for a 2006 accident at its Vanscoy potash mine that left one employee paralyzed. The Saskatoon provincial court stayed nine other charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and in a joint submission to the court, Agrium and the Crown agreed to one guilty plea and the fine. The 2006 accident occurred when 29-year-old employee Paul Goddard was crushed by 900 kilograms of rock while working underground. Goddard suffered a broken spinal cord and severely broken arms, and spent nearly five months in the hospital. Kelly Reynolds, president of the United Steelworkers Local 7552, was quoted in the local press as saying the company had been warned by the union about failing to provide proper training to young miners, and called the accident “foreseeable, predictable and preventable.” Tom Diment, general manager of the Vanscoy mine, said the company concluded in its own investigation that it could have done more, and said additional safety training and technology has been added since the accident. Diment also said Goddard has a job at Agrium if he chooses to come back to the company. “It was in our interest all along to bring a timely and satisfying resolution to this,” Diment was quoted as saying. “It has been very hard on our organization and on Paul and we weren’t interested in dragging this out any longer.”<