Safety course to warn miners about dangers of radon gas: Sudbury researcher calls course waste of time, money.

• Author: Migneault, Jonathan
• Position: MINING

The Radiation Safety Institute of Canada is planning a free course to inform workers and managers in Ontario's mining sector about the potential danger radon gas poses underground. Radon is a heavy gas that is invisible and odourless.

After cigarettes, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer fatalities in Ontario.

The gas is radioactive, and is responsible for 847 lung cancer deaths in Ontario each year, about 14 per cent of all fatalities related to the disease.

Radon is formed when uranium in the ground breaks down. It can enter people's homes through cracks and openings in the foundation, and is typically present in higher quantities at lower levels because it is heavier than the surrounding air. "It's everywhere," said Steven Mahoney, institute president and CEO. "Wherever there's rock and dirt

you're going to find radon gas in certain levels."

Through a grant from the Ministry of Labour's new Occupational Health and Safety Prevention and Innovation Program, the institute plans to introduce an online course within six months to inform mine managers how they can reduce radon levels, that will educate workers about their rights to refuse unsafe work, and show what personal safety equipment they can use to reduce their exposure to radon.

While organizations like Workplace Safety North have measured radon levels in mines in the past, and found ventilation systems adequately dispersed the radon, Mahoney said to his knowledge no thorough testing has been done. "There's no question in our mind that there's radon there," Mahoney said. "Is it properly ventilated?"

Health Canada says a radon concentration exceeding 200 becquerels per cubic metre should be of concern. A becquerel measures the amount of radioactive activity in a location. Health Canada has calculated about five per cent of homes in Sudbury exceed radon measurements of 200 becquerels per cubic metre.

Mahoney said radon levels can be managed with proper ventilation. However, the program is being categorized by a Sudbury researcher as alarmist and a waste of resources.

Daniel Cluff, a physicist and mine engineer, said the ventilation systems in modern mines ensure radon gas does not constitute a health and safety issue.

In the early 1990s, Cluff and his colleagues measured radon and other sources of radiation at the 6,800 level of Creighton Mine ahead of the...