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Syncrude ordered to pay $390K after pleading guilty in 2021 death at Alberta work site

A Syncrude site in Alberta. (File) A Syncrude site in Alberta. (File)
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Syncrude has been ordered to pay nearly $400,000 after pleading guilty in the death of a worker nearly three years ago.

On June 6, 2021, the employee was using an excavator to build a berm at a worksite near Fort McKay when the bank the machine was on slumped into the water.

The cab of the excavator became submerged, and the worker drowned.

On Thursday, Syncrude pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker under the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act.

Four other charges under the OHS Act were withdrawn.

"Under a creative sentence, the company will pay $390,000 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 province said in a Monday news release.

"The funds will be used to develop an employer best-practice guide and field-ready mobile app for trenching, excavation and adjacent work.

"These will provide real-time training, work planning and decision support to enhance safe work practices."

The OHS Act provides a provision for a creative sentence option where money that would be paid as fines is directed to a project to improve workplace health and safety.

Both Syncrude and the Crown have up to 30 days to appeal the conviction or the penalty. 

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