

The APSM’s mission is to support workers and employers in the mining industry in their management of occupational health and safety prevention, ensuring equal representation through joint management.
As such, it innovates by offering services that meet the needs of its members and customers.
As a mining industry partner in the challenges related to occupational health and safety, the APSM actively listens and cooperates in the decision-making process.
APSM’s directors, general management, staff and partners respect and count on one another to continue building trust.
The APSM is credible and committed to offering quality services, allowing all members and clients to obtain unquestionable added value through its presence.
The APSM’s dynamism and flexibility ensure that its operations are as efficient as possible and that its range and delivery of services are adapted to the needs of its members and clients.
The APSM adheres to the regulations and standards generally recognized in its overall management and decision-making process.
The Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur minier (APSM) is a joint sector-based association on occupational health and safety in the mining industry, constituted under section 98 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety, that has been supporting workers and employers in the mining industry since 1985 and offering training, information and research services, as well as technical advice and assistance. It provides a wide range of services tailored to the industry’s specific needs.
The APSM is a partner of choice. It is becoming an essential player in prevention, and the mining industry recognizes its key role in sustainable OHS management.
As such, it contributes to the mining industry’s reach and acts as a catalyst for the renewal of a skilled workforce in OHS prevention.
The Association paritaire pour la santé et la sécurité du travail du secteur minier has a team that is strongly committed to the occupational health and safety of workers in the mining industry.
Joint sector-based associations are autonomous non-profit organizations created under the Act respecting occupational health and safety and administered by a joint board of directors composed of representatives of the employers’ associations and representatives of the union associations. The APSM’s members include all organizations and businesses working in the Quebec mining industry that contribute through the CNESST. To find out whether you are a member, consult the classification decision provided by the CNESST each year.
The employers who are members of the APSM contribute to our Association through the CNESST. To find out whether you are contributing to the APSM, you must consult the classification decision that the CNESST sends you each fall. Click here to see an example of a Classification Decision.
The APSM was founded in 1985 based on the recommendation of the Commission d’enquête sur la tragédie de la mine Belmoral et les conditions de sécurité dans les mines souterraines (click here). The Commission’s mandate was to determine what caused the Ferderber-Belmoral mine to cave in on May 20, 1980, and recommend specific prevention measures. This tragic accident caused 24 miners to be trapped underground, a number of whom succumbed to their injuries. Testimony revealed that few of the people involved were aware of the appropriate measures to be taken in the event of an emergency.
The Commission emphasized that better communication between parties would have helped with regard to the implementation of safety and prevention measures. It would also have allowed for more appropriate intervention and minimized the consequences of this accident, hence the relevance of a joint-based sector association dedicated to the mining industry. The APSM team and its partners have since joined efforts to convey a core value in the area of prevention: joint management..
Quebec’s history is deeply tied to mining. Less than 100 years after the discovery of Quebec, the first mineral deposits were found in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. The industry really took off in Quebec in the 1920s. This growth of the mining industry, coupled with major industrial and territorial expansion, allowed Quebec to meet the mineral demands of the most industrialized regions of North America. Within a few years, a number of mining towns emerged, greatly contributing to the economic development of remote regions such as Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Côte-Nord. This was an era marked by the gold rush that galvanized the early settlers and First Nations, inhabitants of major centres and European immigrants to come work in Quebec’s mines.
At the heart of the mining industry’s success is its workers, and especially its qualified workers.
These workers were real agents of change for Quebec’s mining industry. With a key message at the time, they fought vigorously to improve their working conditions and the health and safety of miners.
Today, this constantly evolving industry in search of sustainable and safe solutions employs nearly 16,000 workers. An invaluable industry resource, these men and women explore, mine and extract a number of minerals every day that no one could do without.
“We are proud to support some 170 member organizations every day, helping them manage occupational health and safety prevention. We are committed to playing a key role in the area of prevention and helping ensure that all industry workers return home safely at the end of the day.”
– Sandra Damien, General Manager
©Mathieu Dupuis-Mine Canadian Malartic
The APSM is jointly composed of member associations represented by their delegates at the annual general assembly. It is led by a Board of Directors made up of fourteen directors and an administrative committee made up of two co-chairs and the General Manager. It includes six permanent employees.
Josée Méthot, coprésidente patronale
President and CEO
Québec Mining Association
Natalie Parent
Manager, OHS and Health and Wellness
ArcelorMittal Infrastructure Canada
Luc Desjardins
Head of Compliance
Quebec Iron Ore
Laurent Vivier
Director, Risk, Prevention and Emergency Measures
Raglan Mine, a Glencore company
Claude Jutras
OHS Superintendent
Agnico Eagle Goldex Mine
Guy Tremblay
Corporate Vice President
CMAC-Thyssen Mining Group
Rémi Nolet
Director, Health, Safety and Environment
Rouillier Drilling
Nicolas Lapierre, Union Co-chair
Syndicat des Métallos coordinator for Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspé and Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Syndicat des Métallos FTQ
Steeve Arsenault
President, Local 4466 of the Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ) and Mining Equipment Operator
Rio Tinto-Fer et Titane inc.
André Racicot
President, Local 9291 of the Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ)
IAMGOLD – Westwood Mine
Yves Lapierre
President, Local 9996 of the Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ)
Quebec Iron Ore
Karine Sénéchal
President, Local 5778 of the Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ)
ArcelorMittal Mines Canada - Mont-Wright
Claude Bénard
Occupational Health and Safety Officer for the Syndicat des travailleurs et des travailleuses CSN de Mines Seleine and Prevention Representative
Seleine Mines
André Miousse
Vice-President, Union Activities
Fédération de l’industrie manufacturière (CSN)