TORONTO - The ONTARIO MINING ASSOCIATION (OMA) has released figures that indicate large improvements in the safety of the province's mineral industry since 1999.
In the LOST TIME INJURY category, Ontario's mining sector shows a 46% improvement, going to a rate of 0.7 per 200,000 hours worked in 2007 from a rate of 1.3 in 1999. In the TOTAL MEDICAL AID standard, Ontario's mining industry shows a 36% gain to a rate of 7.1 per 200,000 hours (2007) from a rate of 11.0 (1999). As far as SEVERITY goes, which tracks the gap in the time it takes an injured worker to return to the job, Ontario's mineral producers show a 27% improvement, moving to 132 days in 2007 from 180 days in 1999.
Ontario's mining industry invests more than $2,200 per employee annually in safety training. Mine workers in Ontario are trained better, both before they start working and throughout their careers, than those employed in many other sectors of the economy. Overall, employees in the Ontario mining industry are safe, highly skilled, highly paid and highly productive, the OMA reminds us.
Statistics and charts of Ontario's improving safety performance in the mines and aggregates industries are available at www.MASHA.on.ca.
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