Vale, supervisors and worker charged under health and safety act

A total of 17 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act have been laid against Vale, two supervisors and a worker after the death of an employee last year, according to the Ministry of Labour.

Paul Rochette, 36, died of severe head trauma on April 6 while working at the Copper Cliff Smelter.

A 28-year-old man was also injured in the same incident at the site.

The men were working on industrial machines in the crushing and casting area, where hot metal is poured, cooled and then crushed.

At the time, the company said the workers had about 20 years of professional experience between them, although they were relatively new to Vale.

The Ministry of Labour said nine charges have been laid against Vale.

A total of five charges were laid against two supervisors and three charges have also been laid against a worker.

The Ministry of Labour said the two supervisors who have been charged are Eric Labelle and Glenn Munro. The worker charged is Greg Taylor, the ministry said.

The ministry said a first appearance is scheduled at the Ontario Court of Justice in Sudbury on June 12.

58 recommendations

In a statement, the company said it is reviewing the charges.

It added following the tragedy, a joint team of representatives from Vale and the workers' unioncompleted a comprehensive investigation to try and understand what went wrong.

Based on the findings, the company said 58 recommendations were put forward with a view to preventing a similar incident from happening again. Vale added most of the short to medium-term items have been addressed and completed, and work is underway regarding longer term systemic solutions.

The union for Vale workers said it is not surprised by the charges.

"The workers believe that they were doing what they could to make things better and it was falling on deaf ears. I don't believe workers will ever forget what happened," saidMike Bond, the health and safety chair of Steelworkers Local 6500 who was also part of the investigation.