Canadian energy company Suncor has announced that one of its employees has died at its oil sands site. Suncor has yet to provide details of the incident, including name and gender of the deceased worker and the cause of death.
According to the official statement, the tragic incident occurred on Jan. 19, 2014. The body was discovered after failure to locate the employee prompted a request for service to the Suncor Emergency Services staff. The company immediately set in motion its emergency response plan and launched a full-scale search, with alerts sent to the RCMP and Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. The missing employee was found several hours later and was pronounced dead at the scene.
RELATED: US Chemical Safety Board calls for changes in refinery regulation
The company stated further that it had notified immediate family members and its HR team had started grief counseling activities for family and colleagues of the deceased employee. There were no other members of staff involved in the incident. Suncor is conducting a full investigation to establish the cause of death and is collaborating with the relevant authorities, the statement added.
According to the 2013 progress report from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), there was one fatality at an oil sands site in 2011 and another one in 2012. However, the report does not specify whether the analysis covers workers at contract companies and non-CAAP members. Conventional oil and gas producers in Western Canada recorded three fatalities in 2012, according to the publication.
