Abstract

The assessment process is adopted from the Health and Safety Critical Control Management Good Practice Guide prepared by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). The guide approached is called Critical Control Management (CCM), which is a well-established and in use in many high-hazard industries to prevent the occurrence of serious types of health and safety incidents, referred to as material unwanted events (MUEs). However, the approached has been modified in this presentation to capture the high-level initiatives implemented by Government Enforcement Agency, Health and Safety Association (HSA) Prevention services, academia and research institutes, and underground mining operations, in managing ground control unwanted events (GCUE) that could result to traumatic fatal injuries. This can be referred to as Ground Control High-Level Risk Management (GCHLRM) system.

In Ontario, falls of ground and rockbursts are recognized as the main causes of deaths and serious incidents in underground mines. From 2000 - 2020, there were seven (7) fatal injuries that were recorde. 

The graphical representation from the data of the Ontario fatal injuries for falls of ground and rockbursts from 2000 - 2020 is shows that there were no fatal injuries that occurred in 2001, from 2003 to 2006, from 2008 to 2011, 2013, and from 2015 to present. The trend analysis based on linear regression best-fit line shows a gradual decrease in fatal injuries during the period. The gradual decrease in trendline, although there were four (4) fatal injuries that occurred in the second half of the period, may have been influenced by a combination of no reported incidents in some years and in a number of consecutive years. As noted in the graph, there were no reported traumatic fatal injury from 2015 to present.