Mining could be the safest industry in Ontario according to the most recent statistics available from the Ontario Mining Association. For the first four months of 2010 lost time injury rate for Ontario’s mining sector was 0.3 per 200,000 hours worked compared to 0.6 per 200,000 hours worked in 2009 – when mining was the second safest sector in the province.  In 2009 the mining industry’s rate was second only to the education sector, which had a lost time injury rate of 0.5 per 200,000 hours worked. The mining industry’s improved rate of 0.3 is also significantly better than the average lost time injury rate across all sectors which stood at 1.3 in 2009.  Statistics for the first four months of 2010 show mining as being six times safer than forestry, health care and construction, which all had lost time injury rates of 1.8 in 2009. Mining would be eight times safer than sectors such as agriculture and transportation, which had 2009 lost time injury rates of 2.4 per 200,000 hours worked.

Although it is not fair to compare numbers from two slightly different time periods, the distance between the sectors is still striking. Mining’s lost time injury rate of 0.3 for the first four months of 2010, combined with a total medical aid frequency of 4.1 over the same period (6.0 in 2009, a 32% improvement), indicates mining’s continuing gains in this area. Over the past 20 years, Ontario’s mining sector has improved its lost time injury rate by 91% and has improved its total medical aid frequency by 65%.

There are a number of initiatives and institutions supporting this progress. OMA programs, the Internal Responsibility system, inspections and programs from the Ministry of Labour, regulatory changes to Common Core skills training, as well as Workplace Safety North and unions, have played strong parts in these gains.  Employees in the Ontario mining industry are safe, highly skilled, well paid and very productive.  However, while the safety performance of Ontario’s mining industry is certainly worthy of recognition, no one in the industry would consider it good enough – collective efforts on many fronts to get these various incident statistics to zero are ongoing throughout the industry with OMA members driving to reach a zero lost time frequency by 2015.