Sudbury's Vale to survey workers about mental health issues

A mental health survey is about to be launched by Sudbury, Ont. nickel company Vale.

Vale will use the data from its study to come up with strategies to deal with the mental health issues many miners deal with — including post-traumatic stress disorder.

People like Ian LeClair — who survived after 30 tonnes of rock fell on the machine he was operating at Vale's Creighton Mine a few years ago — want to give their input.

LeClair developed PTSD in the aftermath of his experience.

"That's something that I try, I really try to avoid thinking [about]," he said.

"Someone can have an incident, like what happened to me, and get up and go to work the next day," LeClair said. "Not that they are stronger, it's the way that they handle their thought process. Their mental well-being."  

Listen to LeClair's story here:

Morning North14:10Former miner tells story of PTSD after workplace incident

Former Sudbury miner Ian LeClair has been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder ever since he survived a mining incident a few years ago. He told his story to the CBC's Olivia Stefanovich. You can hear all about it in this documentary.

'Almost like people are afraid'

Another miner, Kevin Morgan, was diagnosed with PTSD following a another rock collapse. He said he still battles the stigma of having a mental health disorder.

"It's almost like people are afraid. They walk on eggshells around me," he said.

"I'm not really any different than anybody else. I mean, I do my job and I want to be given a job and just left alone to do my job. I want to have some kind of meaningful input."

Listen to Morgan's story here:

Morning North7:31Miner who survived rock collapse now fighting stigma of PTSD

We bring you another documentary in the "Buried Alive" series by Olivia Stefanovich. This is the story of Kevin Morgan who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after an underground rock collapse. Now he's fighting the stigma associated with PTSD.

Both Morgan and LeClair were turned away from a pilot to finesse the study's questions, because only a handful of participants were needed.

Vale spokesperson Angie Robson said all employees will get a chance to contribute.

"I think we were a bit surprised by the response that we got and hopefully that bodes well in terms of participation in the study more broadly, which is coming," she said.

Robson said the survey will be given to employees in June.

Once those surveys are completed, "we'll have some concrete data to be able to start to come up with strategies and to make decisions that can help tackle this issue for us," Robson continued.

Vale reports one-in-four disability claims are related to mental health.