Mining Company Fined $124,000 for Not Providing Eyewash Station

A pressurized hose ruptures spraying liquid grout into the eye and face of a mine worker. There’s no eyewash station on the elevated scissor deck where the crew is working so co-workers try flushing the eye with a water bottle. It doesn’t work and the victim is brought down from the scissor deck and taken to the retreat station for the level. But there’s no eyewash station there either. So, the victim has to be driven 5 minutes to another level that does have an eyewash station. The eye is flushed and the victim is taken to a hospital but it’s too late. The injury is permanent. The employer pleads guilty to failing to ensure failing to ensure that emergency eyewash equipment was readily available to workers and is fined $124,000 [Vale Canada Limited, Dec. 17, 2019].