Feds accuse mine of 55 safety law violations

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration recently issued citations to Canadian-based Capstone Mining Co. saying the company broke a wide range of safety rules, including electrical, machinery, fire prevention and ground control regulations.

It’s the latest in a string of around 440 citations filed by MSHA over five years to two owners at the open pit mine lying about 100 miles north of Tucson and 125 miles east of Phoenix, federal records show.

Close to 210 citations have been issued to Capstone and its contractors at the mine site since Capstone took over mine operations in October 2013, federal records show. That’s on top of another 239 issued to Capstone’s predecessor, the Australia-based BHP Billiton, and its contractors, from January 2010 until Capstone took over the mine.

Capstone and its contractors face about $84,000 in pending fines assessed by MSHA, including those the federal agency has proposed and the company and its contractors are contesting. Capstone and its contractors have paid about $3,100 in fines.

BHP and its contractors have paid nearly $75,000 in fines since the start of 2010 and are contesting two others totaling $122,000.

Capstone is contesting 20 of the most recent batch of citations but has already corrected all the problems alleged by federal inspectors, including those for which it’s contesting citations, said Cindy Burnett, a spokeswoman for Capstone in Vancouver, B.C. All citations are corrected immediately, or within a reasonable time frame, Burnett said.

“As a new operator to Arizona, and given the record under the previous ownership, we have been subject to rigorous inspection since our purchase of the Pinto Valley operation in October 2013,” said Burnett, referring to her company’s acquisition of the mine from BHP. “We have operating mines in three countries and take our environmental and safety responsibilities very seriously, with our expectations of performance in that regard forming part of our four core values.”

“We have a goal of zero harm, and annual improvement objectives are in place at each of our operations with the goal of continuously improving our performance relative to the year before. In addition, we are currently working with the Rocky Mountain District office (of MSHA) to prepare a program outlining our health and safety initiatives for 2015.”

In the citations issued Capstone in December, specific violations alleged by the agency include:

• 21 citations for electrical violations, including damaged cables, cords and welding leads, conductors with inadequate or damaged protective insulation and extension cord grounding plugs broken off.
• 10 citations for machinery violations, including unsecured machinery guards and several inadequately grounded bench grinders.
• 10 citations for fire prevention and control issues, including flammable liquids stored in other than safety cans, combustible liquid spillage and leakage, and warning signs not posted.
• Four ground control violations, including one involving loose, unconsolidated and large materials that were observed at the top of a 90-foot-high rock face. A front-end loader was observed working near the base of the highwall.
• In another alleged ground control violation, MSHA cited the company for having material standing 5 to 6 feet high that fell from above and completely filled a bench above a work area 45 feet below. Construction of a protective catch berm had not been finished in an area where people were observed working below.
• A contractor’s flatbed truck driver was observed standing atop a load of material, approximately 6
• ½
• feet above a concrete floor, with no safety belt, harness or lanyard use, and no tie-off point or railings provided to prevent a fall.

Some problems pointed out by inspectors are corrected immediately — right on the spot while the inspector is still there and signs off on the correction, Capstone spokeswoman Burnett said.

Some things may require more time, but in the case of the December inspection — and typically — the corrections require a maximum of days rather than weeks, she said. The inspector prescribes a time in the initial report and subsequently inspects the correction and signs off, Burnett said.

Most prominent among the citations issued to BHP and its contractors are two stemming from the September 2012 accidental death at the mine of Jon Vanoss, a 34-year-old laborer working at his sixth day on the job for a contractor.

Vanoss was killed when he fell through an opening on the fourth floor of the mine’s secondary crusher building and landed about 30 feet below, a MSHA investigative report on the death said. The opening was covered by boards and plywood that were being used as a work platform, the report said.

When Vanoss stepped onto the platform, two boards broke and he fell, the report said. A screen that had been attached over the opening had been removed for repairs, the report said.

The accident occurred while Tetra Tech Construction Services, a BHP contractor, was conducting rehabilitation operations at the mine’s mill and processing plant as the facility prepared to reopen. The mine had closed in February 2009 and started rehab work in February 2012, the MSHA report said.

MSHA determined that the accident occurred due to the mine’s and a contractor’s failure to ensure that the work platform covering the hole through which Vanoss fell was of substantial construction, barricaded and provided with warning signs to prevent it from becoming a fall hazard, the agency report said. The accident occurred in an area where Vanoss wasn’t assigned to work and he had been missing about an hour and 45 minutes before a search began, the report said.

In separate citations to BHP and Tetra Tech, MSHA said that their failure to provide “a substantially constructed work platform” over the opening through which Vanoss fell constituted more than ordinary negligence and was an unwarrantable failure to comply with a safety standard.

MSHA has fined the two companies a total of $122,000 for the citations. The fines are still being contested, said MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere.

BHP is declining comment on the fines, “as the case is ongoing,” said BHP spokeswoman Jennifer White.