Bonanza Drilling fined $50,000 for worker’s fall off drilling rig

BY BRIAN ZINCHUK
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

ROSETOWN - Brooks, Alberta-based drilling rig company Bonanza Drilling Inc. pleaded guilty to one count under The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, 1996 in Rosetown Provincial Court on August 13, 2020.

Bonanza pleaded guilty to contravening clause 12(a) of the regulations (being an employer, failed in the provision and maintenance of a plant, systems of work and working environments that ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of the employer’s workers, resulting in the injury of a worker), according to a release from Saskatchewan’s Labour Relations and Workplace Safety.

The company was fined $35,714.28 plus a surcharge of $14,285.72. One other charge was withdrawn.

The charges resulted from an incident that occurred on February 17, 2018, near Herschel, Saskatchewan. A worker sustained serious injuries after falling from a walkway while cleaning a rig.

The Herschel area is part of the Viking oil play. The region has been one of the most active drilling locations in Saskatchewan over the last decade.