Worker was clearing water and ice buildup from piping at the site
Prairie Mines and Royalty ULC has been fined $360,000 after pleading guilty to a workplace safety violation connected to the 2023 death of a worker at a site near Warburg, Alta., according to reports.
The company entered its guilty plea on July 8, admitting to one charge under Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act of failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker, CTV News reported. Eleven additional charges the company had originally faced were withdrawn as part of the resolution, CTV News noted.
Both Prairie Mines and Royalty and the Crown have 30 days from the date of the conviction to appeal either the conviction itself or the penalty imposed.
Warburg is located approximately 90 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
Circumstances of the fatal incident
The worker was fatally injured on Nov. 25, 2023, while clearing water and ice buildup from piping at the site, according to the CTV News report.
During that work, an ice plug became dislodged from the piping and struck the worker, resulting in fatal injuries, CTV News reported.
The report did not identify the worker by name and did not include comment from company representatives, Crown prosecutors, or Alberta Occupational Health and Safety officials regarding the specific circumstances that led to the charge.
The underlying facts supporting the charge were addressed through the guilty plea rather than through a trial, a common outcome in Canadian workplace fatality prosecutions.
The creative sentence
The $360,000 penalty was structured as what Alberta's OHS legislation calls a "creative sentence," rather than being directed to general government revenue, according to the report.
Under this provision, courts may order that all or part of a fine be paid to an organization or project intended to improve or promote workplace health and safety, in place of a conventional punitive fine.
In this case, the fine will be paid to the Alberta Mine Safety Association, which is expected to use the money to develop best practices and training for water removal operations, according to CTV News.
No timeline for the development or release of that training material was provided in the report.
