ROSETOWN – WSK Well Service Inc. was fined $65,000 after pleading guilty in Rosetown Circuit Court to violating the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
The Crown and defence entered a joint submission to the court on Feb. 8.
“The company has a good safety record,” Judge Miguel Martinez said when accepting the joint submission.
Court heard that WSK Well Service operates in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, and has an impeccable safety record with a strong culture of safety first.
“The risk came from the inability to communicate with workers,” and has since been corrected, said Judge Martinez.
“If something breaks on a rig run away because you’re not stronger than the rig,” said Judge Martinez, adding that a friend of his who worked on the rigs once told him that.
The 26-year-old employee had sustained serious injuries after being struck by a rod at a worksite near Elrose on Jan. 18. He was a floor hand and had only been on the job between two and six months, court heard.
The incident happened on a cold, windy day and an employee above other workers was yelling to the driller that he couldn’t get the rod attached. Due to the loud wind, however, the driller couldn’t hear him. The rod dropped and struck an employee. He suffered fractured ribs and a punctured lung.
The injured worker declined providing the court with a victim impact statement, court heard.
A second charge of failing to provide and maintain plant, systems of work and working environments that ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work was stayed by the Crown.
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