The Province of British Columbia recognized two of Teck Resources Ltd.’s coal operations for excellence in mine safety at the 54th Annual Provincial Mine Rescue, First Aid and Safety Awards ceremony held on June 6 at Britannia Beach. Teck Coal’s Greenhills Operation won the John Ash Award for achieving the lowest injury frequency rate for mines operating more than 1 million worker hours in 2008 and the Line Creek Operation received the Edward Prior Award for mines operating between 200,000 and 1 million worker hours, with the lowest injury-frequency rate in 2008.
In addition, the company’s Highland Valley Copper Operation’s three-person miners’ first aid team took first place June 6 at the B.C. Provincial Mine Rescue Competition, while the Greenhills Operation placed first in the surface mine rescue competition. In total, the two teams captured awards in five categories. In other competitions, the Cardinal River Operation’s team took third place at the Alberta Surface Mine Rescue Competition, and individuals and teams from the Pogo and Pend Oreille Operations placed in the top three categories in five different events at the Central Mine Rescue Underground Competition held in Idaho.
The mine rescue competitions bring together mine rescue teams to compete in several tasks designed to simulate real-life emergency situations and to test teams’ skills in first aid, extrication, fire fighting, rope rescue and overall mine rescue knowledge.
“These awards demonstrate our commitment to living our values,” said Don Lindsay, Teck’s president and CEO. “Safety is a core value and we believe achieving zero incidents is possible in the workplace.”
