Yellowknife, NT (Sept 12, 2024) – On Wednesday, September 11, 2024, Diavik Diamond Mine Inc. appeared in the Northwest Territories’ Territorial Court in Yellowknife and entered a guilty plea to one offence under the Northwest Territories’ Mine Health and Safety Act.
Diavik Diamond Mine Inc. pleaded guilty to Count #2:
- failing to implement and maintain work practices that are safe and that do not present undue risk to the health of workers
The company has been issued a fine of $125,000 to be paid to the Workers’ Protection Fund along with a 15% victim fine surcharge.
The charges stem from an incident at the mine on January 26, 2023, in which a worker suffered a severe hand injury when the hose he was using to clean a Rockfill Mixer machine dropped into the machine and pulled his left hand in with it.
The daily work practice related to the wash-out of a Rockfill Mixer at the time of the incident was to open the machine to expose moving parts, slow the movement and spray water from a hose to clean the machine. There were no guards or safety measures implemented to ensure that workers could not get caught in the moving parts.
Following an investigation, the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC) filed four charges against Diavik Diamond Mine on January 19, 2024. The remaining charges were stayed in accordance with the plea agreement.
Diavik Diamond Mine cooperated with the investigation and implemented corrective actions to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future, including
- reaffirming the requirement to lockout the equipment prior to cleaning
- conducting a review of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to reflect the equipment’s current specifications; and
- training all workers on the revised SOP.
Maggie Collins
Communications Manager
T: (867) 920-3854
More info: WCB NT
