Mine Safety Concerns Emerge After Potash Corp. Fire

Fires are serious affairs but they become deadlier when they happen in a mine. Smoke spreads quickly as circulation systems keep the air moving steadily. So when flames erupted from a large spool of electrical wire like what happened in Potash Corp.’s Rocanville mine in Saskatchewan at 2 a.m. on September 25, Jamie Johnson knew he had to act fast.

As the lead hand of a three-man crew running a miner, he called the control room as soon as the emergency system sounded and was told to move to a refuge station 6.5 kilometers away. This was also the case for 16 other mine workers who were spread out across three other refuge stations in the mine. Earlier, nine other workers who were near the end of their shift had been brought to the surface just a few minutes after the fire started. The 20 others left in refuge stations below would not be whisked up until 24 hours later.

Although the fire was put out and no one was hurt, the incident at Rocanville prompted the Communications, Energy and Paperworker’s Union of Canada to call for a mine safety review on its cause. Potash Corp.'s occupational health and safety committee and management have already begun an internal investigation into the cause of the fire. They will then forward their report to the mine safety unit of the provincial government where the Occupational Health and Safety division of Saskatchewan will assess it to prevent future incidents.

In the event that government investigations, which is set to conclude in 90 days, will reveal that the mining company has been remiss in complying with safety regulations, the Occupational Health and Safety division will bring the matter to the justice ministry.

But for Johnson and the other miners, the refuge stations and weekly emergency drills had clearly served their purpose. The shelters—which were sealed off from the rest of the mine—were large and had fresh air, water, food, and bathroom facilities. It also has a landline which would keep the miners connected with those above-ground, including their families. 

Meanwhile, the constant drills and training, as mandated by government standards, that they constantly underwent has helped them stay calm and focused in such emergency situations. For instance, Johnson and his crew already had a backup plan in case they encountered heavy smoke on the way to the refuge area: They would have to go back to the mine and wall themselves in with a brattice to separate the clean air from the dirty air. Johnson reflects: "We had a pretty good idea of what we were going to do. We just didn’t want to have to go through it." Thankfully, they only encountered light smoke and made their way to the refuge area in safety.

Rocanville mine resumed operations the day after the incident.