New Mining Safety Regulations to Come into Effect

Regulations regarding the safety of workers in the mining industry have now been incorporated within the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2012. These regulations will come into effect on March 20, 2012.

“The mining regulations were outdated and in need of a thorough review to make them more user-friendly and relevant to the mining industry in this province,” said the Honourable Paul Davis, Minister of Service NL. “In combining these two sets of regulations, we have included enhancements which have been developed in cooperation with industry stakeholders. These enhancements are in areas such as ventilation, mine design and emergency procedures for mine rescue.”

Recognizing the changes in mining processes and technology, this review focused on today’s mining industry, in an effort to ensure that consistent safe work practices are applied across the province. The intent is to create safer workplaces which will contribute to the reduction of potential injuries and accidents in the industry.

These new regulations are incorporated as additional sections under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2012. This consolidation also provides easier one-stop access to all occupational health and safety requirements within the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 2012 and reduces duplication and streamlines the occupational health and safety regulatory environment. The result is one set of occupational health and safety regulations for the province covering all sectors including mining.

The mining industry in Newfoundland and Labrador is the largest in the Atlantic provinces. It is experiencing increasing growth due to rising commodity prices and increased demand for mineral production from overseas markets. These regulatory changes will enable this continued growth and will provide mining operators with a clear and concise set of occupational health and safety regulations to govern their activities.

“These changes are in keeping with government’s commitment to streamlining the regulatory environment,” said Minister Davis. “I am pleased that the Provincial Government is delivering on its Blue Book commitment to ensure workers are operating in healthy and safe workplaces through improved mines safety of worker regulations.”

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Media contact:
Hugh Donnan
Director of Communications
Service NL
709-729-4860, 725-6511
hughdonnan@gov.nl.ca 

2012 02 08                          10:00 a.m.