A Red Deer County company has been fined $360,000 for a February 2022 workplace fatality.
Isolation Equipment Services Inc. faced 29 charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act after an 18-year-old valve technician from Innisfail was killed on Jan. 13, 2022. The charges were laid in July 2023.
A worker operating an overhead crane was positioning a valve bonnet, which covers the opening on top of a valve body, when the equipment released from the rigging, striking and pinning the worker, who suffered fatal injuries.
The incident happened at the company’s site in the county’s McKenzie Industrial Business Park just south of Red Deer. Isolation Equipment Services also has offices in Grande Prairie and Edson.
Isolation Equipment Services pleaded guilty on Feb. 21, 2024 in Red Deer Court of Justice to a single charge under the act of “failing to take measures to eliminate the potential danger of equipment or material that was dislodged or moved.”
The Crown prosecutor withdrew the remaining charges.
On April 24, the company was fined $1,000 and under the creative sentencing option ordered to pay $359,000 to Energy Safety Canada to develop supervisor and competency programs targeting those who work with new, young and inexperienced workers.
The 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.
Both the company and the Crown have up to 30 days to appeal the conviction or penalties.
Alberta’s OHS laws set basic health and safety rules for workplaces across the province. 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.
Fatality investigation summaries are posted to alberta.ca/fatality-investigation-reports 60 to 90 days after court proceedings conclude.