Alberta drilling company fined $126K following serious workplace injury

Oil pumping jacks, also known as "nodding donkeys", operate in an oilfield near Almetyevsk, Tatarstan, Russia, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020.(Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

An Edmonton-based drilling company has been sentenced after a worker was seriously injured on the job.

TAQA Drilling Solutions Inc. is being fined $126,000 as a result of an incident that happened three years ago.

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On March 23, 2022, a worker was taking apart oilfield drilling equipment in Edmonton when they were struck by a projectile, according to a Friday government news release. The worker was seriously injured.

TAQA pleaded guilty to one charge under the Occupational Health and Safety Code (OHS) for failing to provide safeguards if a worker could come into contact with objects thrown by machinery or equipment.

The Crown withdrew eight other charges.

Under a “creative sentence,” the company has been ordered to pay $126,000 to the Glenrose Hospital Foundation for neuromodulation research at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.

The OHS Act provides a creative sentence option in which fines can be paid directly to an organization or project to improve or promote workplace health and safety.