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  The quarterly newsletter for Safety Professionals

Q1, 2008

Issue 9
   

In The News

 

4 Deaths at Teck Cominco's Sullivan Mine.  What Went Wrong?

May 17th, 2006 was a sad day in British Columbia as four bodies were recovered from a water sampling shed. Read below to see what went wrong and how to avoid this situation in the future.
 



May 17th, 2006 was a sad day in Kimberly, British Columbia. Four bodies were recovered from a water sampling shed, which included an employee, a consultant contracted by the mine owner, Teck Cominco, and two first responders. What happened to cause this tragedy and what can we learn to prevent future deaths?

Confined Space was a Water Sampling Sump
The confined space involved was a water sampling sump, 1.5 meters deep with a small shed over it. Water from a waste rock dump was channeled through a pipe and could be accessed through the shed to test for chemicals leaching from the rock tailings. The chemical reaction between the sulphide bearing rocks, water and oxygen consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and sulphuric acid. This had caused no previous problems but, in 2005, the waste rock dump had been covered with a layer of soil in order to slow the oxidation process. This channeled more of the carbon dioxide through the pipe and into the sampling sump.

Oxygen Poor Atmosphere Determined as Cause of Death
The direct cause of the deaths was an oxygen poor atmosphere. Testing after the fact revealed oxygen levels as low as 2% in the sump. Anyone in that atmosphere likely became disoriented within a few breaths, lost consciousness within a minute and died of asphyxiation in just a few minutes more. The investigation that followed had a surprising finding. No atmospheric testing had ever been performed despite the fact that the sump qualified as a confined space. Testing, especially in the beginning of the sampling program, would have revealed low oxygen levels and prompted some simple precautions before the O2 levels became dangerously low.

Actions of Rescuers also Contributed to Deaths
A contributing cause of these fatalities was the actions of the rescuers themselves. After finding the first victim at the bottom of the sump, the Teck Cominco employee immediately called emergency services and climbed down into the sump without any protection. The ambulance crew that responded to the emergency compounded the tragedy and both descended into the sump, one after the other, to recover the previous victim. To enter a confined space, especially one which has been proven to be hazardous because of the presence of a casualty, without testing the atmosphere and either ventilating the space or wearing breathing apparatus is a recipe for disaster!

Unfortunately, the incident at the Sullivan Mine is a classic example of a confined space incident where a possible hazard is overlooked because no testing is done. Additionally, rescuers enter the space without testing and taking precautions. Let this be a lesson learned to all of us so these types of incidents never happen again.

 

 
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