Underground team wins safety award

Last year Dumas was awarded the 2010 Worker Safety Innovation Award by the Ontario Mine Contractors Safety Association (OMCSA) for the Dumas Crosshead Design.

The Dumas Crosshead Design was the first of its kind to be used at a mine in the Province of Ontario. During the shaft sinking project at Lake Shore Gold’s Timmins Mine, Dumas used its innovative crosshead design to increase the level of safety for everyone travelling underground.

The crosshead design consists of a caged or screened-in crosshead, a guiding device that prevents a shaft bucket from swaying as it is being lowered into the shaft, protecting workers by ensuring that everyone travelling in the bucket is totally enclosed. In addition, this design includes a proximity switch installed on the crosshead door with an interlock system to prevent the hoist from moving until the door is closed.

The idea of a caged or screened crosshead first came about by another company in Quebec after a fatal accident occurred during their shaft sinking operation. Dumas employees, Luc Pelchat, Master Mechanic, and Gilbert Dion, Site Superintendent, implemented this design at a previous Dumas shaft sinking project at Casa Berardi Mine in Quebec.

As mentioned in the adjacent article, Dumas is continuously searching for ways to improve its Health and Safety program and thus encourages each and every employee to identify and correct all unsafe or substandard conditions in the workplace. Mr. Pelchat and Mr. Dion perfected the design by installing a leaky feeder signal inside the conveyance and a proximity switch on the crosshead door for the Timmins Mine shaft sinking project. On March 3, 2010, Dumas successfully reached shaft bottom at the Timmins Mine by maintaining an industry leading safety performance throughout the entire duration of the project.