Alberta company ordered to pay nearly $360K to Energy Safety Canada in ‘creative sentence’
May 3, 2024
By OHS Canada
Photo: Adobe Stock
An Alberta company has been ordered to pay a total of $360,000 after a worker was killed on the job, including a $359,000 payment to Energy Safety Canada in a “creative sentence.”
Isolation Equipment Services pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Code for failing to take measures to eliminate the potential danger of equipment or material that was dislodged or moved.
What happened
The charges stem from an incident on a construction site in Red Deer, Alta., on Jan. 13, 2022.
A worker operating an overhead crane was positioning a valve bonnet when the equipment released from the rigging, striking and pinning the worker — resulting in a fatality.
Creative sentence
The $359,000 being directed to Energy Safety Canada will be used to develop supervisor and competency programs targeting those who work with new, young and inexperienced workers.
Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety 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 other $1,000 is a fine.
The Crown withdrew 28 other OHS charges.
