'Everything has changed': Vale ordered to pay $124K after miner suffers permanent eye damage

A mining employee left with permanent eye damage during a workplace accident says he doesn't harbour any ill will toward his employer, but his life hasn't been the same since that day three years ago in the company's Thompson, Man., mine.

"Everything has changed," said Doug MacLean, 50, who only has partial vision in his left eye after the 2016 incident. 

"It's just like a big blur. I can see colours and shapes," but can't read with one eye, added the third-generation Thompson miner.

His employer, mining giant Vale, was ordered to pay $124,000 for breaching Manitoba workplace safety laws after MacLean was sprayed in the eye with liquid grout in the northern Manitoba mine. Vale Canada Limited pleaded guilty in December to violating the province's Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations.

​MacLean said he doesn't blame the company and accepts there is a level of risk to working in a mine.

"They don't try to have accidents. I don't accuse them of anything or anything," he said, but adds the $124,000 fine "doesn't mean anything."

"Like, I've probably lost that much money since I've been injured just by reduced income. I don't see how that helps me in any way," he said.

"Basically the government sold my eyeball to this company for $124,000 and I don't even see any of that money."

Hose ruptured

MacLean and others working in the company's T3 Mine in Thompson were using pressurized equipment to fill holes in the rockface on April 30, 2016 when a pressurized hose ruptured, spraying two workers in the face with liquid grout, according to Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health's website.

The grout got into MacLean's eye, but there was no eyewash station available on the elevated scissor deck he and others had been using, the documents state.

He said he laid down immediately so that one of his co-workers could flush out his eyes by dumping a jug of ice water on his face.

MacLean was brought down from the deck only to find there was no eyewash station available at that level's retreat station, either.

He had to be driven roughly five minutes to get to another level of the mine before being able to flush his eye using an eyewash station, the provincial document says.

Permanent eye injury: province

MacLean got another eye flush from the mine's first-aid attendant at the surface before being sent to Thompson's general hospital and then transferred to Winnipeg for further treatment.

He was left with a permanent eye injury as a result of the incident, the province says.

According to Safe Work Manitoba, eyewash stations must be in an accessible location as close to a hazard as possible, and require no greater than 10 seconds to reach.

MacLean questions several things about how things went that day, but he said having more immediate access to eyewash stations early on likely would've helped.

"We were a long ways away from one," he said. "It was 30 some hours before I actually got medical care just because of the distance we were."

After the incident, Vale was prosecuted for violations under Manitoba's workplace safety laws. On Dec. 17, 2018, it pleaded guilty to failing to ensure emergency eyewash equipment was readily available to a worker operating and working in close proximity to the CG-542 rock bolt and cable grouter.

In an emailed statement, Vale spokesperson Ryan Land says the company conducted a joint investigation following the incident. It has implemented all recommendations that came out as a result, he says, as well as recommendations from Workplace Safety and Health.

"We cannot take back what happened, but as a company we accept responsibility," Land wrote.

"Our most important goal in our pursuit of zero harm is to see zero lives lost or changed, and this unfortunate incident is a stern reminder that we are not yet there."

Forced to delay retirement

MacLean said he has worked for the company for three decades — since he was 19 — and will have to retire later than expected because he took a big hit financially.

He was working underground at the time of the accident, getting special bonuses and overtime opportunities, but now is above ground working in a warehouse.

"The whole situation hasn't gone well for me," he said.

"At 30 years [of employment] I became eligible for retirement, so I could've retired and gone and worked somewhere else. But I'm kind of limited as to where I can work now, so I am kind of in limbo. I'm kind of just stuck."

The province is reminding employers to make sure emergency washing facilities are available in the workplace.