Yukon mine death still under investigation

A preliminary report on how a B.C. man was killed at Yukon Zinc Corp.'s Wolverine site will come out next week, according to the Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board.

Mechanic Will Fisher, 25, died after part of an underground tunnel collapsed on him and two other workers Sunday at the Wolverine zinc mine, located 200 kilometres south of Ross River in southeastern Yukon. The other two workers survived.

Underground mining operations have since been suspended at the mine, as occupational health and safety investigators try to determine how the tunnel collapsed.

The Yukon Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board has brought in a safety management auditor and a geotechnical engineer from outside the territory to inspect the mine, president Valerie Royle told CBC News.

"We've had to pull experts off other work to get them to come in, on fairly short notice, and get out to that mine site," Royle said Thursday.

"We're moving as quickly as we can, but we're going to take the time it needs to make sure that this is done correctly and that the workers are safe."

No fatal injuries: autopsy

A memorial service for Fisher is scheduled to take place Friday in Penticton, B.C.

The results of an autopsy conducted on Wednesdayshowed no injuries that would have killed Fisher, said Yukon coroner Sharon Hanley.

Hanley said more tests are being done, but it is possible that he had suffocated under the dirt and rock that entrapped him during the collapse.

The compensation board's preliminary report on what caused the fatal cave-in is expected to be released late next week. In the meantime, Royle said underground work will not resume until her staff are satisfied that the mine site is safe.

"We want to make sure that we can prevent it to the greatest extent possible, we mitigate the risks for all the workers in that mine," she said.

Yukon Zinc has said Fisher and the surviving two workers were with Procon Mining and Tunnelling Ltd., a mining contractor working on the Wolverine site.

Company officials are anxious to know what killed Fisher. The area of the mine that collapsed had been stabilized and should not have caved in, said Pamela O'Hara, the company's vice-president of environment and community affairs.

O'Hara said the suspension of underground operations at the Wolverine mine should not affect plans to start production in late June, since plenty of lead-zinc ore has already been stockpiled above ground, waiting for construction of the mill to be completed.

RCMP probe thorough: Royle

Fisher's death has prompted union officials to call for a greater RCMP role in workplace fatality investigations.

Earlier this week, Yukon Federation of Labour president Alex Furlong said there should be a greater emphasis on looking for evidence of criminal negligence on the part of employers.

The current practice is for the RCMP to do a quick initial investigation of a workplace death, and then turn the case over to occupational health and safety inspectors.

Royle said the RCMP does conduct thorough initial investigations, adding that officers used their best resources to probe Fisher's death.

"On Sunday, the RCMP had their head of their major crimes unit, they had the head of the forensic unit, they had other members out there working on that site.

"We saw they took it very seriously, and as a citizen that gives me great comfort. As the president of the WCB, that also certainly gives me reflection that they're taking this workplace fatality very seriously, as are we."

If health and safety inspectors do find evidence of a Criminal Code offence, they will hand that over to the RCMP, Royle said.

Royle noted, however, that the Criminal Code charge related to negligence in a workplace death is rarely laid in Canada, and it has never been used in the Yukon.