Safety Commission files charges against Baffinland for worker's death

Mary River mine site. (Image by Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation).

The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission filed 16 charges in the Nunavut Court of Justice against Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation accusing the company of failing to keep safe a main road used to haul iron ore, which caused the death of a 63-year-old truck driver.

The accident took place in December 2018, when Tony Anker was fatally injured at the Mary River mine site, near the Hamlet of Pond Inlet in the northern part of Canada's Baffin Island. The worker died while operating a Cat 745C Articulated Truck.

According to the Commission, the death was caused by Baffinland's failure to keep the road safe, which constitutes a violation of the Nunavut Mine Health and Safety Act.

In a press release, the organization states that it is accusing the company of "failing to supervise, instruct and train as is necessary to protect the health and safety of workers and failing to provide and maintain healthy and safe worksites."

According to a report by public broadcaster CBC, court documents state that Baffinland did not display correct signage about speeds, gear selection and payloads along the main work road at Mary River.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court. Baffinland told CBC that they are false and that it plans to defend itself.

The first court date is scheduled for January 9, 2020.