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Coroner's Inquest Demanded in Sullivan Mine Deaths
Family, union and MLA reject government report.
Shawn Currier and Kim Weitzel
Between May 15 and 17 this year, four workers died inside a dark, airless shed on the grounds of Teck Cominco's decommissioned Sullivan Mine near Cranbrook in the East Kootenays. Now the government report on this tragedy is at the centre of a storm of controversy. Family members, the MLA for the region, and the union that represented workers at Sullivan when the lead/zinc/silver mine was open are calling for a coroner's inquest. They say there is more to know about the facts, and who is responsible.
Doug Erickson, an environmental contractor working for Pryzm Environmental, and Bob Newcombe, a Teck Cominco employee, were the first to succumb to an oxygen-depleted atmosphere inside the tiny water-monitoring structure build over a waste rock dump. B.C. Ambulance paramedics Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier died trying to rescue Erickson and Newcombe.
Erickson died working alone and unsupervised on May 15. No efforts were made to find him until the morning of May 17, when Newcombe, alerted by a call from Erickson's wife, and again working alone, tried to determine what had become of the environmental consultant. Newcombe, too, fell victim to the de-oxygenated air in the water-monitoring shed. Weitzel and Currier, called to the mine site later that morning, died trying to rescue the first two victims.
'Not satisfied with this report'
A report from B.C.'s Chief Inspector of Mines Fred Hermann released Oct. 30 calls the events leading to the tragic deaths "unprecedented" and says "the process that led to the oxygen-depleted atmosphere has not, to our knowledge, occurred anywhere else in the world." Harmann's report says:
"The accident was caused by the accumulation of oxygen-deprived atmosphere in the shed (and in particular in the sub-level excavation in the shed). This air mixture was transported through a drainage pipe feeding into the shed from the covered ditch surrounding the toe of the dump. This ditch had been designed and constructed to direct water flowing through the dump into a collection system for treatment."
Family members of the fallen workers are not satisfied with this report, and two of the survivors told The Tyee that they support a recent call from NDP Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald for a full and public coroner's inquest.
Macdonald is critical of the mine inspector's report because, he says, it doesn't call for penalties against Teck Cominco for the company's failure to follow provisions of the Mine Act's Health, Safety and Reclamation Code. Macdonald pointed out that the inspector's report suggested Teck Cominco had not been recording when workers entered and left the mine, or guaranteeing that staff working alone be checked at least once every two and a half hours, as required by provincial regulations.
"I was appalled to hear that even though Teck Cominco is in clear violation of existing regulations, no penalties are being assigned," Macdonald told The Tyee.
Although the provincial coroner is expected to issue a report on the Sullivan Mine deaths, Macdonald says that he did not expect the report process would be suitably comprehensive. "A coroner's inquest is required," he said.
Lack of training claimed
Surviving family members are also calling on the B.C. chief coroner to act.
"I won't have a good night's sleep until there's an inquest," George Weitzel, paramedic Kim Weitzel's husband told The Tyee. "There are so many unanswered questions, so many errors in this report. We want someone to take responsibility. That's why we need a coroner's inquest. If there had been a sign-in, sign-out policy, Doug Erickson wouldn't have laid at the bottom of that pit for two days. And somebody who went in and went looking for him might have had a different level of training and might have looked at that shaft a little differently and recognized the hazards."
The Hermann report suggests that "lack of basic hazard recognition training and experience contributed to the loss of Shawn Currier." Although the mine inspector's report suggests Teck Cominco and other B.C. mines in future should implement the safety procedures mandated by the Mine Act and clearly not in place at Sullivan in May, it does not assign any blame in the deaths to the mining company for apparently failing to obey the regulations before the tragedy.
Bob Currier's son Shawn was the last one to die at the Sullivan Mine last May. He, too, is eager to see a full coroner's inquest into the circumstances surrounding the four deaths.
Doug Erickson shouldn't have been working alone on that job," he told The Tyee. "In my opinion," said Currier, who has worked in underground construction, mining and oil and gas drilling operations and is familiar with industrial safety procedures, "if he was left alone, he should have had radio contact and a hand-held air monitor. The space where these people died was a 'confined space' under every act I know about, but Fred Hermann refused to classify it as a confined space. The inspector's report is not complete. We need public support for a coroner's inquest. I'm asking people to rally and speak to their MLAs on this. The families want some truth. The companies should be held responsible.
Report 'speaks for itself'
David Parker, who speaks for Teck Cominco, said in a voicemail left after hours for a Tyee reporter that his company would co-operate fully if an inquest were held. Parker did not respond before this story went to press to requests for comment about the indication in the mine inspector's report that his company had not been following safety regulations at the Sullivan Mine.
Teck Cominco is one of B.C.'s largest and most influential mining companies and the largest single donor to B.C. Liberal campaigns over the last decade, with total donations to the governing party of more than $750,000.
Several requests for comment from Bill Bennett, the B.C. minister of state for mines, went unanswered as this story went to press. On Oct. 30, Minister of State Bennett said in a government press release:
"I accept the chief inspector of mines report and its findings and support his recommendations to ensure the safety of workers and first responders at mine sites."
Graham Curry, director of communication, Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, refused in a recent telephone interview to comment on suggestions that the mining company had failed to obey Mine Act safety regulations that might have saved the lives of the four workers lost at the Sullivan Mine.
"The chief inspector's report speaks for itself," he said.
Curry did confirm that the Sullivan Mine report would be the last one issued by Fred Hermann, who is leaving the ministry to take a job in the private sector.
The union that represented miners at the Sullivan Mine until Teck Cominco shut it down has joined in the call for a coroner's inquest. In a statement issued Nov. 7, Steve Hunt, United Steelworkers district director (and, some years ago, one of the contributing authors of the Mine Act's Health, Safety and Reclamation Code) said that Hermann's report seems to gloss over some of the basic tenets of mine safety.
"Had regulations been followed and enforced, this disaster would not have happened. There will be no closure for the community or the families of the victims of this tragedy without a coroner's inquest."
'Uncommonly caring'
Hunt told the Tyee that the four victims at the Sullivan Mine died in a very confined space that was not designed for human occupation, and echoed the families of the lost workers in calling for an inquest.
One of the questions George Weitzel wants a coroner's inquest to look into is whether the layer of clay and glacial till Teck Cominco spread over the waste rock dump beneath the shed in October of 2005 created an air-tight seal that promoted the creation of the de-oxygenated air that killed his wife and three others.
"Teck Cominco, in our opinion," Weitzel told The Tyee, "designed and built the shed and the seal. They didn't do their due diligence on either the shed or the seal."
While he waits for a coroner's inquest, George Weitzel remembers his wife Kim as "an uncommonly caring person, always helping others."
"The day before she died," he told The Tyee, "Kim came home just glowing. She told me she'd had an 'awesome' day. She'd picked up a guy in full cardiac arrest and treated him for the 20-minute drive to the hospital, and saved his life. She said to me, 'I remember now why I do this job.'"
The next day, Kim Weitzel died doing the job she loved. Her grieving husband and the family members of the other three who died in the dark in Teck Cominco's water sampling shed are still waiting for the inquest they hope will answer their many unanswered questions.
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Grumpy
5 years ago
Comments on "Inquest Asked for Sullivan Mine Deaths"
Why not an inquest? Well the Liberal's good friends, Teck-Cominco may be found at fault and then forced to pay compensation. Can't have Gordo's friends found quilty, can we!
dorothy
5 years ago
There is no doubt that an inquest is in order, not the least because the ‘explanations’ we are provided with sound amateurish at best, deliberately obfuscating at worst. What are the ‘unique conditions’ that didn’t happen anywhere else in the world? If you have said that much, you should also be able to explain what they are, in technical detail, or else it would have been rash to declare them ‘unique’.
That having been said, I believe it is also in order to stress that worker protection and its effectivity is never a simple issue. There are technical speficiations that can be put in place, but they often are incongruent with doing the job not just efficiently, but even effectively. This is the reason why most workers in the realm of practical reality can make things move at a snail’s pace, in fact make life impossible, by ‘working to rule’.
Most of the time, safety regulations work like ‘nice’ cushions. They give us the security that as much protection as can be done is built righ into the situation in which we work. But in the absence for the longest time of any serious happenings, things kind of shake loose. Everyone, from the director to the guy on the factory floor, turns a blind eye when rules are being tweaked in the name of expediency or economy. Then, when something happens, we suddenly all remember, how serious this stuff is, and the recriminations start.
I believe this is the place where we fall down most seriously. As we have all ridden roughshod over the regulations, and as we have all profited from this, or those who have, I think it is shameful we will not own up to having broken the rules and pay up wihout qubbling to those who fell victim to the ‘bad luck’ that will have its tribute sooner or later. There are entrenched patterns of hypocrisy in this, such as some professions where just doing the job results in a 40% rate of back injury before age 50, but since the injury cannot be ascribed to any particular isolated incident, it is not considered ‘proven’, that it is job-related. Ergo, not a penny is paid in compensation from WCB to those who fall under the bad part of this statistic.
If we meant business with all of this, not one of us would ever buy a product made in China, where the worker protection track record is appalling. I have said it before, and I am saying it again, the most profound power we have is not at the ballot box, but in how we dispose of our consumer dollar. The only language this society that surrounds us understands is that of money, therefore money must speak for us. Seriously, we are not going to do that in numbers that will make an impact. So, let us at least agree that if we are all part of the problem, and we don’t intend to be part of the solution, we must pay restitution to the fallen. They are our soldiers, and one takes care of one’s soldiers, noblesse oblige! (Yes, I am being ironic)
Percy
5 years ago
Sadly, someone is misinforming these people. A coroner's inquest merely ascertains cause of death. It does not--and at law may not--assign fault or blame, or recommend prosecution. Obviously, the writer of this story doesn't know this either.
hunter
5 years ago
If you want to know how it is these things happen check out the letters to the ed in today's Sun. You have either the most ignorant person on the planet or a planted letter asking why the ferry workers aren't better trained re the recent ferry sinking. The writer somehow makes the link that the lack of training might be the fault of "the well paid union members". It is crap such as this and the fact that the Sun wouldn't weed out the obvious that makes me want to give up completely.
maestro
5 years ago
I seem to recall this de-oxygenated air issue has happened before, especially in barges that are undergoing repairs and maintenance. Apparently the "rust process" uses up the limited oxygen within the sealed unit. The entry in such areas previously sealed often ambushes the parties that enter these areas..."lack of oxygen" is not something that can be "seen".
When I heard this story, I thought much the same cause, but seem to also recall some poisonous gas , sulfur byproduct???..was present at the mine and contributed to the deaths .
However, given the subcontractors employee was the first victim...why weren't they, the subcontractors to TECK COMINCO following the regulations ie re: working alone ? This apparently started the tragic chain of events.
However, tying TECK COMINCO past donations ie totalling $750,000 to Provincial Liberal and THIS tragedy in "cause and effect" insinuation is really a cheap shot and taking political advantage of this tragedy.
Perhaps view if TECK COMINCO(of which I have absolutely no ties to ) has also donated to other political parties...this often happens,....companies or groups often contribute to most ,if not all, political parties.
Hopefully the coroners report and any subsequent recommendations will prevent any another similar tragedies from ever happening again.
saraphin
5 years ago
Is this yet another story about somthing blatently obvious won't get done? I'm really unimpressed at the fact that most people value their jobs over their morals.
haraldkann
5 years ago
since getting into office Gordon Kampbell has weakened the rights of workers concerning WORKERS COMPENSATION and LEGAL AID(did ya notice the supreme court said geoff plant was screwing the poor/disabled workers ,etc. over) or did ya miss that...
THAT WAS KAMPBELL and his KLOWNS doing whats right for his big business buddies not the EVERYDAY SLOB like you and me.
Kampbell is BIG BUSINESS PERSONIFIED !
we are EXPENDABLE workers...kinda like the slaves of yore or the chinese used to build our railroads...
get used to it...drink your beer and watch your BIG SCREEN til its time to get up and do it all over again,like Jackson Brown sang in the PRETENDER...
Alcibiades
5 years ago
sez maestro, playing, as usual from his normal rosy score.
maestro
5 years ago
Sorry HaraldtheConn;
I forgot the WCB (now WORKSAFE) almost went bankrupt under the NDP,..ie lack of business or clientele,...absolutely no claims...for injury nor death.... let alone NO people with claims who felt shafted by the system.
Your right ......its 110% Kampbells fault...
Now go back and order a round for the house...you are going to be cut - off soon...then undoubtedly overwhelm our neo-con health care sytem.
PS.....Probably an Alouettes fan too.
haraldkann
5 years ago
oh and i almost forgot,who is trying to open up more coal mining here in BC for the purpose of selling POWER???
HERR KAMPBELL UNT HIS KLAN !
Now talk about...mine deaths .
AND TALK ABOUT HOW THE LIBERALS CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ...BUT MONEY .
with a KREEP like Bennet as mining minister,you can be assured all is well for the big boys.
maestro
5 years ago
Alci:
Why...pray W-H-Y.... can't you simply send Lightning Bolts down (or up?) from where you currently are and thus smite those you feel need smite-ing ???
PS Maybe try out the boomerang model FIRST and report back.
haraldkann
5 years ago
not likely !
GO LEOS.................
AND I HOPE THEY PUT PAM'S BOOBIES ON THE BIG SCREEN....now that's a half time show.
oooooops,not PC of me,but hey !!!
woody
5 years ago
haraldkann said
haraldkann you garbage-kann, you just couldn’t refrain the sexist side of yourself, could you.. In addition one would assume you could act or at the very least pretend to be civilized and show some respect towards these workers who lost their lives, after all the, topic of discussion here is in regards to the death of four people.
gordon
5 years ago
Again lets do everything except stop the cash registers and go to the streets to demand justice, living wages, and social equity.
pure
5 years ago
It is the lack of QUALITY CONTROL and that is why these particular people are dead. NO other reason. If QUALITY CONTROL was in place they would be alive today. It is very difficult for me to believe that this tragedy took place in our modern society, in BC.
Percy
5 years ago
This is an amusing story. It's based on a false premise that nobody, including the author, has bothered to check. Namely, an inquest may not legally find fault or responsibility. Here are the relevant section of the Coroner's Act of B.C.:
27 (1) If an inquest is held, the inquest must inquire into and determine who the deceased was and how, when, where and by what means he or she died.
(2) The jury must not make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law on any matter referred to in subsection (1).
Sorry, this is embarrassingly junk journalism.
haraldkann
5 years ago
hey stiffy!we know small minds like your's are not intent on discourse...the QUOTE sez it ALL.You want the chance to irritate some one more intellectually advanced than yourself...
Now if we were in a church,you would not hear a peep out of me !
BUT...
27 (1) If an inquest is held, the inquest must inquire into and determine who the deceased was and how, when, where and by what means he or she died.
(2) The jury must not make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law on any matter referred to in subsection (1).
Sorry, this is embarrassingly junk journalism.
AS YOU CAN SEE...others have drawn the same CONCLUSION as any one with a modicum of understanding.THIS IS JUNK JOURNALISM!!!
Most pieces here are for people like you woody...people that cannot read or understand that no one in this world gives a sh!t about the poor slobs that move this economy and people like the KAMPBELL KLAN ARE THE PURVEYORS OF GREED and when we get rid of trash like these PSYCHOPATHS that think dead people in the ranks are acceptable,we may be able to run adecent society.
TIL THEN,WE ARE JUST PISSING AGAINST THE WIND...
woody
5 years ago
haraldkann why are you here on this site reading, if its JUNK JOURNALISM ? Why do you lower yourself, and respond to someone who you feel is so intellectually inferior to yourself?.
Its obvious to me you and Percy have both misunderstood the intention of this story ,let me try to assist you, what the families of those killed wanted was Justice, the mining inspector should have provided this for them, unfortunately now that door is closed , the only alternative left available to them, as, “Kim Weitzel's husband told The Tyee. "There are so many unanswered questions, so many errors in this report. We want someone to take responsibility. That's why we need a coroner's inquest.â€
Im also of the opinion that an inquest would bring all the facts to the forefront, then utilizing these facts ,the family of the deceased could cause a civil suit, if negligence or wrong doing could be shown or proven , if they so wish.
Percy
5 years ago
Further to the above. A coroner's inquest is prohibited at law from assigning responsibility. While the people involved may want "justice", anyone who suggests that they can get this fro a coroner's inquest is simply misleading them or is misinformed. No evidence provided at a coroner's inquest can be used as the basis for civil proceedings or prosecution. Section 39 of the Coroner's Act states:
Protection for witnesses
39 (1) A witness at an inquest is deemed to have objected to answer any question asked of the witness on the ground that the answer may tend to
(a) incriminate the witness, or
(b) establish his or her liability in a civil proceeding at the instance of the government or any person.
(2) An answer given by a witness at an inquest must not be used or admitted in evidence against the witness in any trial or other proceedings against the witness, other than a prosecution for perjury in giving that evidence.
woody
5 years ago
Haralkann is this how someone more intellectually advanced behaves? The following
quotes were instigated by you on the “Belinda Bitched Out Again siteâ€
Your comments substantiate the Darwin theory is factual.
Or just a punny misogynist pick for a persona.
U could have used peckerhead as well,but I'm guessing you're saving that for another site you can bash women on without EVIDENCE.
seems like you cannot read at all incredulous...
so we can see what a LITTLE MIND YOU HAVE BY YOUR HANDLE .
Fun at anothers expense! you gotta be sitting in peeler bars with your brain drained of ALL the blood it takes to get yer lil stiffy noticed,you can't have real fun if you don't understand the situation.
Which you clearly don't..
Then again half wits like INCREDULOUS want to draw out the incident with their AIRY FAIRY BLATHERINGS.
You seem to know a lot about Riverview there INCREDULOUS,first hand knowledge is it ???
Then again,I wonder about your medications ,Everyone knows they let you guys out of there in the early nineties...YOU HOMESICK ???
so welcome to your new job,INCREDULOUS,the village was wondering who was going to apply for that position.???
Seems you were a shoe in after your first posting!Who would have known???
Well just dropped by for a quickie
woody
5 years ago
Percy, I should have been more clear in my suggestion in regards to an inquest bringing the facts to the forefront, in mentioning a possible civil suit and I understand the need for protection of the witness, what I was alluding to, was, if evidence came foreword through witnesses testimony and it implicated a 3rd party , would this not open a door for a suit, in regards to that 3rd party?
As it appears you have understanding in regards to law. What if you were a interested party, e.g. had lost a relative in this particular case, what route would you suggest in order to have closer or Justice
Coroner inquest excluded.
haraldkann
5 years ago
Geez...stiffy ,can cut and paste...WOW !!!
why didn"t you add your QOUTE about liking the size of SPECTOR'S BALLS ???
As usual taking things out of CONTEXT causes your little mind to get ALL EXCITED like you actually had a good idea or something !
TIME TO GO TO THE COTTAGE...losers like you WOODY/STIFFY/WHATEVER can excercise your little minds and wear your fingers to the nub while the rest of us entertain real life events ...AS THEY HAPPEN.
Should have listened to the CBC interview months ago and you would be AWARE of this stories OUTCOME .
Percy
5 years ago
Hmmmm, Woody, I'm doubtful. A coroner's inquest is not a court of record, no finding of legal responsibility can be made, and no witness can be required to incriminate themselves. In addition, there's the legal principle that evidence in one proceeding cannot be used in another proceeding. Since the purpose of an inquest is to determine cause of death solely, I suspect that objections would be raised to the relevance of any line of questioning which might lead to issues of responsibility.
woody
5 years ago
Percy, thanks, appreciate your reply.
Hardly-kann said,
And I would suggest that its to bad your folks had not subscribed to safe sex, then you would have been flushed down the biffy with the rest of the thurds.
Sherry
5 years ago
As someone that lives in Kimberley, a close personal friend of Kim Weitzel's and as someone that doesn't believe all the crap that is being said in the reports I just hope that we can have an inquest and have the answers that we deserve! Not everyone wants a political pissing war, we want answers and justice for 4 lives lost!
haraldkann
5 years ago
rest of the thurds.
WOW !!! Stiffy,you done ,done,out done yerself...heh,heh.
Now what in tarnation is a "thurds" ???
HUH ??? Is that like a backwoods thingy ?
Not everyone wants a political pissing war, we want answers and justice for 4 lives lost!
Then find a competent lawyer in this province that can use the weak labour laws in a court,then hope to hell he/she will hang on for the YEARS OF BULLSHIT the GOVERNMENT(whoever is in will always work for the good of the GOVERNMENT not the PEOPLE,left ,right,whatever)
AND DON'T FORGET YOUR BANKBOOK.
we are EXPENDABLE to those in POWER...
woody
5 years ago
haraldkann said,
Unfortunately, what Haraldkann says is true, the labor laws have been decimated.
woody
5 years ago
haraldkann your right, misspelled turds, in lieu of then, how about "3rds"
woody
5 years ago
If I was associated with a serious situation such as this, now, understanding that a Corners Inquest guarantees immunity by way of testifying, which Percy has so eloquently pointed out, I would be insisting on a Corners inquest, volunteering full cooperation in testifying.
Further to question I raised to Percy , he replied
Further to the inspector's report that safety regulations at the Mine had not been followed, I would think this in its self is cause for civil and possibly criminal actions, I would disregard a Corners in Quest, its apparent that route will provide no relief. My suggestion, go find a good lawyer to draw out the facts, then sue.