PotashCorp pleads guilty to 2014 workplace death at Cory mine
Jason Shulist killed in roof collapse
PotashCorp pleaded guilty today in Saskatoon provincial court to a charge connected to the death of a worker at its Cory mine on Feb. 17, 2014.
Jason Shulist, 31, died when the roof collapsed in the area of the mine he was working.
The company was fined $200,000, plus an $80,000 surcharge.
"The health and safety of our employees, their well being, is our responsibility, no matter what happens," Mark Fracchia, president of PCS Potash, said in an interview outside court.
"In this case, we failed."
Fracchia said the company has since modified its procedures.
Although there were procedures for working in those conditions, Fracchia said there was also an element of human judgement involved.
PotashCorp has changed that. It uses more bolts in the mine ceiling, and ground penetrating radar.
Judge Albert Lavoie spoke directly to Shulist's family while accepting the joint submission.
"He do we bring accountability to corporations? Through fines," he said.
"The corporation has to publicly account for what happened."
Corrections
- A caption in a previous version of this story incorrectly referred to Mark Fracchia as president of PotashCorp when, in fact, he is president of PCS Potash, a division of PotashCorp.Dec 09, 2015 7:09 PM EST