Alberta employer facing 22 charges for worker's death

Alberta employer NC Equipment Ltd. is facing 22 charges following the death of one of its workers.

The incident happened on Feb. 22, 2023, when a worker was conducting sandblasting work using an air respirator equipped with a supplied air system, according to the Alberta government.

During the task, the worker was exposed to carbon monoxide. The worker was found unresponsive by a co-worker.

“Despite medical treatment, the injured worker succumbed to their injury,” said the provincial government.

The employer is now facing the following charges:

• Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of a worker engaged in the work of that employer, who was fatally injured by carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker by failing to ensure that the worker was not poisoned by carbon monoxide while performing sandblasting work.
• Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker by failing to adequately maintain or service equipment, a portable air compressor.
• Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker by failing to establish, implement or enforce a safe procedure or adequate administrative procedures or practices for the safe operation of equipment, a portable air compressor, a blast machine and respiratory protective equipment.
• Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker by failing to ensure that the worker was adequately qualified, suitably trained and sufficiently experienced to safely perform work as the operator of equipment, a portable air compressor, a blast machine and respiratory protective equipment.
• Section 3(2) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker by failing to ensure the worker was adequately trained in all matters necessary to perform sandblasting work in a healthy and safe manner.
• Section 3(3) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure if work was to be done that could endanger a worker,  sandblasting, that the work was done by a worker competent to do the work or by a worker who was working under the direct supervision of a worker who was competent to do the work.
• Section 3(3) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to ensure if work was to be done that could endanger a worker, making modifications to a portable air compressor, that the work was done by a worker competent to do the work or by a worker who was working under the direct supervision of a worker who was competent to do the work.
• Section 3(4)(b) of the OHS Act, on February 22, 2023, failure to  keep readily available information related to work site hazards, controls, work practices and procedures and provide that information to a worker.
• Section 7(4) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure any hazard assessment was repeated when a new work process,  sandblasting, was introduced or when a work process or operation, sandblasting, was changed.
• Section 12(b)(i) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a portable air compressor used at a work site, was maintained in a condition that would not compromise the health or safety of a worker using it.
• Section 12(b)(ii) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment used at a work site, a sandblasting system, including a portable air compressor, a Radex airline filter, a Nova Blasting Respirator and a Mod-U-Blast blast machine, would safely perform the function for which it was intended or was designed.
• Section 12(b)(ii) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a portable air compressor used at a work site, would safely perform the function for which it was intended or was designed.
• Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a portable air compressor, was installed, assembled, operated, handled, serviced, maintained or repaired in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the Joy operator’s manual.
• Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a Radex airline filter, was installed, assembled, operated, handled, serviced or maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the Radex instruction manual.
• Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a Nova Blasting Respirator, was installed, assembled, operated, handled, serviced or maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the Nova instruction manual.
• Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure equipment, a Mod-U-Blast blast machine, was installed, assembled, operated, handled, serviced or maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the MBM owner’s manual.
• Section 15.1 of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure, where the OHS Code requires work to be done in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications, the Joy operator’s manual, the Radex and Nova instruction manuals, and the MBM owner’s manual, that those specifications were readily available to a worker.
• Section 116 of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to include in its emergency response plan all the information required by section 116 of the Code.
• Section 244(1) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to determine the degree of danger to a worker at a work site, where the worker was or could be exposed to an airborne contaminant, carbon monoxide, in a concentration exceeding its  occupational exposure limits, or the atmosphere had or could have an oxygen concentration of less than 19.5 percent by volume.
• Section 245(1) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, where respiratory protective equipment was used at a work site, failed to prepare a Code of Practice governing the selection, maintenance and use of that equipment.
• Section 249(1)(a) of the OHS Code, between January 19 and February 22, 2023, both dates inclusive, failure to ensure air used in a self-contained breathing apparatus or air line respiratory protective equipment was of a quality that meets the requirements of Table 1 of CSA Standard Z180.1-00 (R2005) Compressed Breathing Air and Systems.