The Government of Alberta maintains a website that lists convictions resulting from violations of provincial Occupational Health and Safety law.
I thought I’d highlight all the convictions from 2025.
Let’s start with Ihawk Construction Ltd. and Utopia Construction Inc., the first employers to be convicted last year.
Back in January 2023, a Calgary worker was seriously injured after falling off a ladder and into an opening into the basement of where they were working after the portable ladder they were on slipped and toppled over, sending both it and the worker through the opening. The ladder had been placed next to the opening, which was uncovered.
Ihawk Construction Ltd., who was the employer, eventually pled guilty of failing to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of their workers.
Utopia Construction Inc. was a prime contractor on this worksite. They pleaded guilty to failing to establish a system or process that would ensure compliance with OHS legislation and regulation, including a system or process to ensure cooperation between the employer and workers in respect to health and safety.
Both companies were convicted in January 2025 and fined $168,000 each, which includes a 20% victim fine surcharge.
All other charges were dropped.
Next on the list was Excel Projects Ltd., who had a worker die on the job in Edson. In March 2022, the worker was preparing a CAT D4H pipelayer sideboom for transport. While he was on top of the tracks at the entry to the open cab, the pipelayer drive mechanism became engaged. He ended up being pulled between the moving track and side boom lower support arm.
The employer pled guilty to failing to ensure a parking brake lever on the sideboom pipelayer was designed, located, or protected to prevent unintentional activation and was suitably identified to indicate its nature or function. All other charges were withdrawn.
Excel Projects was convicted in January 2025 and fined $5,000, which included the 20% victim fine surcharge.
Plus, they had to pay $225,000 to Olds College and $120,000 to Portage College for the establishment of the Gerry Kennard Safety Award Scholarship at both schools for students enrolled in their heavy equipment operator programmes.
The third conviction was for an incident that took place in December 2021. The employer convicted in this case was Graham Construction and Engineering Inc..
At one of the employer’s construction sites in Calgary, the worker needed to access a work area on a roof, but the work area was concealed by a piece of plywood, which was covering an opening in the roof. This worker moved some plywood and, ironically, fell through the opening. They were seriously injured from the fall.
Graham Construction and Engineering pled guilty for failing to ensure a temporary cover used to protect an opening or hole had a warning or marking clearly indicating the nature of the hazard posted near or fixed to the cover.
All other charges were withdrawn.
They were fined $1000, including the 20% victim fine surcharge,
They were also also ordered in January 2025 to pay $109,000 to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to subsidize education and professional studies courses that address the following key aspects in the construction industry:
- Construction safety
- Project risk methods and practices
- Communicating effectively
- Problem solving and decision making
- Supervisory skills
- Conflict management
- Mental health for trades professionals
Less than a month after this conviction, another employer was convicted with an OHS violation.
In October 2022, a worker had dived into the Rolling Hills Reservoir and the Lake Newell reservoir to assess, inspect, or complete work on the gates at the reservoirs. While they were underwater, they were injured and ultimately died.
Eastern Irrigation District was charged in connection with this death.
The latter pled guilty for failing to ensure the health and safety of their workers. They had failed to ensure the flow through the intake of a pipe, tunnel, duct, or similar installation in the vicinity of a dive was stopped and the intake mechanism was locked out before the dive began.
They were convicted last February and ordered to pay $300,000 to the Central Alberta Rescue Diving Society to for equipment and training and $65,000 to the Alberta Underwater Council for a safety campaign directed towards divers and employers.
All other charges were withdrawn.
Last March, Emcon Services Inc. was convicted in connection to a worker injury in August 2022.
This worker was cleaning up debris on a highway near Acheson when they were struck by a vehicle and seriously injured.
Emcon pled guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of their worker. They were fined $180,000, including the 20% victim fine surcharge.
All other charges were dropped.
In July 2022, a worker working as a heavy equipment technician in Fort McMurray was conducting shovel maintenance duties when a piece of equipment fell from the crane where it had been suspended and struck him. He died as a result of his injuries.
Three companies—Suncor Energy Services Inc., Joy Global (Canada) Ltd., and NCSG Crane & Heavy Haul Services Ltd.—were all charged in connection to this worker’s death.
Suncor pled guilty to not ensuring sharp edges on loads being hoisted were guarded to prevent damage to the rigging.
Joy Global pled guilty to not ensuring the health and safety of their worker, by not adequately training the worker on how to select suitable softeners for use with synthetic slings.
NCSG pled guilty to not repeating a hazard assessment when a new work process—hoisting a pendant line/equalizer assembly—was introduced.
Each of the companies was fined $1000 in April 2025, inclusive of the 20% victim surcharge.
As well, they were all ordered to pay a collective $1.243 million to University of Calgary, University of Alberta, and Mount Royal University for the following:
- Research rigging and hoisting practices
- Develop tools for industry
- Recommend a standard practice
- Establish an Occupational Health and Safety research institute model for Alberta.
Suncor had to pay $495,000 of that, and both Joy Global and NCSG had to each cover $374,000.
All other charges were dropped.
Two workers were welding on top of a tank near the hamlet of Smith in November 2022 when an explosion occurred with a tank farm, killing both of them.
Two companies were charged in connection to these deaths: Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. and Peace Pipefitting Inc.
OHS officials charged Tamarack Valley, a prime contractor, with failing to establish a system or process to ensure compliance with OHS legislation and regulations in respect of this work site, including a system or process to ensure cooperation between the employer and workers regarding health and safety, by failing to implement the Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. health and safety system at the work site after they amalgamated with Deltastream Energy Corporation.
They charged Peace Pipefitting Inc., a supervisor, for failing to take all precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of every worker under the supervisor’s supervision. Specifically, they failed to ensure hot work was not being conducted on the tank.
Last April, both companies pled guilty to the charges. As a result, all of their other charges were dropped.
Tamarack Valley was fined $25,000 and Peace Pipefitting was fined $20,000. Both fines included a 20% victim fine surcharge.
That is not all though. OHS officials ordered Tamarack to pay nearly $600,000 in additional charges:
- $225,000 to CAREERS for welding and explosion safety awareness for high school students, including virtual reality headsets, videos, and scholarships.
- $150,000 to Energy Safety Canada for simultaneous operations guideline/session and subsidized supervisor training.
Both companies were ordered to pay money to Threads of Life for Young Worker Safety Awareness / Alberta high school presentations, Speaker’s Bureau volunteer training, Family Forums, and Alberta-based safety videos. Tamarack Valley was to pay $100,000 and Peace Pipefitting was to pay $30,000.
In March 2022, a worker employed by TAQA Drilling Solutions Inc. was dismantling a piece of oilfield drilling equipment in Edmonton when they were seriously injured after a projectile struck them, causing serious injuries.
The employer pled guilty for failing to safeguard workers who could accidentally, or through the work process, come into contact with debris, material or objects thrown from machinery or equipment.
They were convicted in June 2025 and ordered to pay $126,000 to Glenrose Hospital Foundation for neuromodulation research at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.
In March 2023, a worker employed in Edmonton by Sofina Foods Inc. left their workstation to check the temperature of a cooking programme in the company’s smokehouse. They ended up trapped in the smokehouse, where they were later found dead by a fellow worker.
The employer pled guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of their workers. All other charges laid on the employer were dropped.
They were convicted last June and order to pay $330,000 to Alberta Food Processors Association, so they could develop a comprehensive training program aimed at the food processing industry, including a focused component on confined spaces.
In November 2022, a worker was performing maintenance on an excavator bucket pin when they were crushed to death between the lower excavator arm and a grounded excavator bucket. This occurred in Lacombe County
Delta Land Co. Inc., the employed, was charged in connection with the incident. They pled guilty to permitting a worker to remain in range of a moving load when that movement created a danger to workers.
They were convicted at the end of June 2025 and fined $350,000, including the 20% victim fine surcharge. All other charges were dropped.
About 3 years ago, in February 2023, a worker was conducting sandblasting. Despite sandblasting while wearing an air respirator equipped with a supplied air system—a portable air compressor, a Radex airline filter, a Nova Blasting Respirator and a Mod-U-Blast blast machine—the worker was exposed to carbon monoxide.
A fellow worker found them unresponsive, and even though the injured worker received medical attention, they succumbed to their injury.
NC Equipment Ltd. pled guilty to failing to ensure that equipment used at a work site would safely perform the function for which it was intended or was designed between 19 January 2024 and 22 February 2023.
All other charges were dropped.
They were fined $330,000, inclusive of the 20% victim fine surcharge.
Pacific Rim Industrial Insulations Ltd. was the 16th company convicted of OHS violations in 2025.
In June 2023, a worker was removing roofing material at a job site in Fort McMurray when they fell through the roof to the floor below. They died of their injuries.
The company was charged with failing to ensure a worker used a travel restraint system where they could fall a vertical distance of 3 meters or more from a temporary or permanent work area.
Pacific Rim had the remainder of their charges dropped after they pled guilty to the above charge.
They were convicted last July and had to pay a $210,000 fine, which included the 20% victim fine surcharge.
Plus, they were put on 19-month enhanced regulatory supervision.
The next conviction occurred just 2 days later. Luckily, the worker did not lose their life.
The worker, who was employed by Steelhaus Technologies Inc. at their Calgary manufacturing facility, had been using a computer numerical control lathe to do finishing polishing work
The employer pled guilty to not providing safeguards if a worker could come into contact with:
- Moving parts of machinery or equipment
- Points of machinery or equipment at which material was cut, shaped, or bored
- Debris, material or objects thrown from machinery or equipment
- Machinery or equipment that could be hazardous due to its operation
The remainder of their charges were dropped.
They ended up being convicted in July 2025 and fined $125,000, including the 20% victim fine surcharge.
In March 2022, two workers employed by Steele Tech Fabrication Inc. were moving a 24-foot, 3300-pound, steel I-beam out of a shop in Barrhead and through an overhead door, using a telehandler. One side of the I-beam got hung up on the side of the overhead door and slid off the telehandler forks. The I-beam contacted one of the workers walking beside the I-beam while guiding it, resulting in serious injuries.
The employer was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of their worker by permitting unsafe rigging procedures.
They pled guilty to the charge, and as a result, their remaining charges were withdrawn.
OHS convicted them last August. They escaped a fine but had to pay $90,000 to Barrhead Composite High School, which will used the money to purchase equipment for their shop lab and welding/fabrication lab to increase both student and teacher safety and to provide students with high-quality, modern training.
That’s not all. They were placed on enhanced regulatory supervision for 1.5 years.
The next conviction of 2024 took place in September: another incident in Lacombe County.
Over 2 years earlier, in June 2023, a worker employed by George’s Farm Centre Ltd. had unhitched an air seeder tank from a tractor after pulling off the highway. The tank began to roll back, and the worker was seriously injured while attempting to stop it.
The employer pled guilty for permitting the worker to remain within range of a moving load when that movement created a danger to a worker. OHS dropped all other charges.
They had to pay $108,000, as part of their conviction, in favour of the University of Calgary to help them develop immersive hazard-recognition workplace simulation software. This customizable tool would enhancing hazard recognition and mitigation strategies in the workplace, while allowing for improved competency assessment and offering solutions for language/literacy accessibility.
On 27 November 2023, at a construction site in the community of Viking, some equipment moved too close to a power line, leading to an arc flash, which seriously injured a worker who was nearby.
In this case, two companies were charged: Keller Construction Ltd. and Alberta Concrete Pumping Ltd.
Both companies pled guilty in September 2025 to not maintaining a safe limit of approach distance and not ensuring no work was done and no equipment was operated at a distance less than the established safe limit of approach distance.
Keller Construction, the contractor, was fined $2,000, and Alberta Concrete Pumping, was fined $86,000. Both fines included the victim fine surcharge.
Plus, Keller Construction had to pay $130,000 in favour of Concrete Alberta to help them
- Develop an online training course for concrete pump operators
- Establish a subsidy program for operators to take this training,
- Create a reimbursement program for operators to obtain their Certified Concrete Pump Operator designation
Alberta Concrete Pumping was placed on 2 years of enhanced regulatory supervision.
Nearly 3.5 years ago, a worker was killed on a worksite in Clairmont. They were positioned under a crane boom that itself was sitting on a pipe stand that was not certified for that use. Predictably, the pipe stand collapsed. The boom dropped as a result, striking and killing the worker in the process.
The employer, North West Crane Enterprises Ltd., pled guilty in September 2025 to not taking all reasonable steps to ensure equipment was contained, restrained, or protected to eliminate potential danger of injury should that equipment move or dislodge.
All other charges were dropped, and they were fined $210,000, including the victim fine surcharge. Plus, they were placed on 1.5 years of enhanced regulatory supervision.
A worker employed by McLeod Valley Sand and Gravel (also known as 1686301 Alberta Ltd.) was seriously injured in June 2023 after becoming entangled in the tail pulley of a conveyor they had been using.
This past October, the employer was convicted on one count of failure to ensure the health and safety of their worker, after having pled guilty to that charge. Because of their plea, OHS dropped all other charges.
McLeod Valley was not fined, but they were ordered to pay $150,000 to pay $150,000 to the Alberta Sand & Gravel Association to develop and make available interactive online safety training modules focused on
- OHS Act section 3 (the general duty)
- OHS Code Part 2 (hazard assessment, elimination and control)
- Part 15 (managing the control of hazardous energy)
- Part 25 (tools, equipment and machinery).
A second incident occurred in Viking.
In August 2022, a worker was conducting sewer and water line restoration duties in an excavation site when a partial trench collapse occurred. They were seriously injured as a result.
The employer, HCL Site Services Ltd., pled guilty to failure to ensure the health and safety of a worker. As a result, they were convicted in November 2025 but avoided any other charges.
HCL was fined $100,000 inclusive of the 20% victim fine surcharge.
The final conviction occurred last month in relation to an incident in Edson back in March 2024.
A welder was using a torch to cut a wellhead casing for removal as part of the well abandonment process. During the work, the wellhead dislodged and seriously injured the welder.
Two companies and an individual were convicted last month in connection to this incident.
Canlin Resources Partnership, the prime contractor at the site, pled guilty for not informing Bunch Welding Ltd., the worker’s employer, of the hazard of the potential for the wellhead or components to become dislodged or fall when the casing was cut.
Ulysses Engineering Inc., a contracting employer, pled guilty to not ensuring that the owner and any employer, prime contractor, supplier, or service provider on a work site was informed of any existing or potential work site hazards that could affect workers or other persons at the work site.
Matthew Morris, a supervisor, pled guilty to not taking all precautions necessary to protect the health and safety of every worker under his supervision. He had directed the worker to cut casing connected to a wellhead or components that had not been restrained or secured to eliminate the potential danger of the wellhead or components being dislodged or falling during the cutting process.
Because all 3 parties pled guilty, all other charges were dropped.
Ulysses was fined $75,000, and Morris was fined $25,000. Both amounts included victim fine surcharges. Both parties were placed on enhanced regulatory supervision: 2 years for the former and 1,5 years for the latter.
OHS orderd Canlin to pay $116,000 in favour of Red Deer Polytechnic to develop a specialized training program focused on the safe use of oxy-acetylene torch systems, emphasizing how to identify, assess, and control hazards associated with torch operation.
That is a combined 27 OHS convictions (26 companies and 1 individual) last year. They represented 20 incidents, half of which resulted in deaths.
In 2024, there were only 15 employers who were convicted of violations of provincial Occupational Health and Safety law. Of those, 9 were killed, which is more than the 7 killed in 2023 but less than the 10 killed in 2022.
11 employers were convicted of OHS violations in 2023.
