Suncor pleads guilty to 2 charges related to 2019 incident aboard Terra Nova

CBC

27 September 2024 at 5:36 am·2-min read

The Terra Nova is a floating platform producing oil off the coast of Newfoundland since 2002. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press - image credit)

The Terra Nova is a floating platform producing oil off the coast of Newfoundland since 2002.

Earlier this month Suncor Energy pleaded guilty to two charges related to a December 2019 incident when an employee fell aboard the Terra Nova oil platform. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

Suncor Energy has pleaded guilty to two charges related to a 2019 incident aboard the Terra Nova floating production, storage and offloading vessel, resulting in hundreds of thousands in fines.

On December 29, 2019 a Suncor employee fell from a ladder inside a tank while conducting gas testing on the Terra Nova FPSO, about 350 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. The employee was flown to hospital with what the board called "non-life-threatening injuries."

In a statement released on Thursday, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board said Suncor pleaded guilty to the charges on Sept. 5.

The C-NLOPB, the province's oil industry regulator, said Suncor was fined $45,000 for each charge, resulting in a total of $90,000 in fines. It was also ordered to pay the North Atlantic Health and Safety Management Program a sum of $20,000.

Suncor had been charged with not taking reasonable measures to ensure the health and safety of employees and people onboard the vessel. The second charge was in relation to failing to ensure all employees wore safety harnesses attached to a secure and anchored lifeline while in a confined space.

The charges came after C-NLOPB's occupational health and safety officers investigated the 2019 incident.

CBC News has asked Suncor for an interview.

On Dec. 19 — almost two weeks before the employee fell aboard the Terra Nova FPSO — Suncor was told to stop production due to defective redundant fire-water pumps on the Terra Nova.

Then in January 2020 the industry regulator ordered Suncor Energy to stop all confined-space work at its Terra Nova oil platform. The board also ordered that all confined-space work policies and procedures be reviewed by Suncor and updated for compliance with regulatory requirements.

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