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The Ontario government is working for the province\u2019s 29,000 mine workers by introducing new rules to improve ventilation requirements in underground mines and lower exposure to harmful diesel exhaust to the most protective levels in North America. Long-term exposure to diesel exhaust can be a significant cause of lung cancer in miners.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiners have been the backbone of Ontario\u2019s economy for generations, and we owe it to them and their families to do more to keep them safe,\u201d said Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. \u201cThese everyday heroes are critical to the future of our great province and I\u2019m proud that our changes today will save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, the government is making changes to allow for the use of track-mounted robots in mines to increase safety. These specialized machines with a high-definition camera will be controlled by an operator to identify loose rocks, misfired explosives\u00a0and other safety hazards, while keeping workers out of danger.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come from a proud mining family and keeping workers safe has always been a top priority, but we can do better,\u201d said George Pirie, Minister of Mines. \u201cAs our government helps companies build more mines, we need to attract the best and brightest to work in this exciting sector. These changes send the message that you can find safe, rewarding careers in Ontario\u2019s mining industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
These amendments respond to calls from unions for a reduction of how much diesel particulate miners can be exposed to underground and follow recommendations from the Mining Health, Safety and Prevention Reviewand recent coroner\u2019s inquests.<\/p>\n
The changes expand on the ground-breaking actions introduced by the government in the Working for Workers Act, 2023<\/em>, which proposes new health and safety protections for workers, including fines for withholding passports, better protections for remote workers during mass terminations, and job-protected leave for military reservists. They also build upon recent regulatory amendments to require women\u2019s-only washrooms on construction sites and to expand cancer coverage for firefighters.<\/p>\n The Ontario government is helping to build a strong critical minerals sector in the province. Through investments and support, Ontario is unlocking Northern Ontario\u2019s economic potential in critical minerals and connecting these resources to the world-class manufacturing capabilities in Southern Ontario. The province has tremendous opportunities for critical minerals to support future economic prosperity. These important resources are critical to products that the people of Ontario rely on, including cell phones, electric vehicles (EVs)\u00a0and the semiconductors in countless goods.<\/p>\n The regulatory amendments will come into force on July 1, 2023, and others in effect on September 1, 2023, to allow employers time to comply. Effective September 1, 2023, the new exposure limit will be a time-weighted average exposure to elemental carbon of not more than 0.12 milligrams per cubic metre of air, instead of 0.4 milligrams per cubic metre of air based on total carbon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ontario government is working for the province\u2019s 29,000 mine workers by introducing new rules to improve ventilation requirements in underground mines and lower exposure to harmful diesel exhaust to the most protective levels in North America. Long-term exposure to diesel exhaust can be a significant cause of lung cancer in miners. \u201cMiners have been …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":31649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-27 09:37:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60196,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60194\/revisions\/60196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}