Worker drowned while operating an excavator
Alberta employer Syncrude Canada Ltd. – operated by Suncor – was ordered to pay $390,000 under a creative sentence for the 2021 death of one of its workers.
On April 4 in the Fort McMurray Court of Justice, the employer pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) for failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker, according to the Alberta government.
Four other charges under OHS legislation were withdrawn.
The incident happened on June 6, 2021, when a worker was operating an excavator to build a berm.
The bank the excavator was on was slumped in water. During the process, the excavator cab became submerged and the worker drowned.
Four other charges under OHS legislation were withdrawn.
Both the company and the Crown have up to 30 days to appeal the conviction or penalty.
“Alberta’s OHS laws set basic health and safety rules for the province’s workplaces,” said the provincial government. “They provide guidance for employers to help them ensure their workplaces are as healthy and safe as possible while providing rights and protections for workers. Charges under OHS laws may be laid when failing to follow the rules results in a workplace fatality or serious injury.”
The OHS Act provides a creative sentence option in which funds that would otherwise be paid as fines are directed to an organization or project, to improve or promote workplace health and safety.
The $390,000 from Syncrude Canada will go to the David and Joan Lynch School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management, the UAlberta Geotechnical Centre and the Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association.
The funds will be used to develop an employer best-practice guide and field-ready mobile app for trenching, excavation and adjacent work, said the provincial government. These will provide real-time training, work planning and decision support to enhance safe work practices.
In February, Suncor Energy Inc. claimed that 2023 was its best year in terms of worker safety.
Between 2014 and 2023, 13 employees or contractors have died at Suncor sites, Edmonton Journal noted in January 2023.
Between 2014 and 2022, Suncor had at least 12 workplace deaths at its sites, more than all the rest of its oilsands peers combined, according to The Canadian Press’s report posted on Global News.
