Canada | Two Alberta employers fined for workers’ deaths in 2022 explosion

May 13, 2025

Canadian Occupational Safety | Two Alberta companies have been fined a combined $550,000 after pleading guilty to violating provincial occupational health and safety legislation in connection with a 2022 explosion that killed two welders at a tank storage facility north of Edmonton.

 

The incident happened on 12 November 2022, at an oil and gas development in northern Alberta.

Two workers were welding on top of a tank when an explosion occurred within a tank farm, according to the Alberta government.

The explosion claimed the lives of Greg Podulsky, 29, and Darcy Schwindt, 47, while the men were conducting work at the site operated by Tamarack.

Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. and Peace Pipefitting Inc. each admitted to a single count under Alberta’s Occupational Health and Safety Act during a court hearing in Slave Lake.

Justice Robert Marceau accepted a joint sentencing submission that included both fines and creative sentencing measures.

Tamarack was ordered to pay $500,000, with the majority of that sum directed toward funding safety awareness and prevention programming through three organisations, CAREERS: The Next Generation Foundation, Energy Safety Canada, and Threads of Life, a national non-profit that supports families affected by workplace tragedy.

Peace Pipefitting Inc., the contract employer for the welders, received a $50,000 fine, of which $30,000 will be allocated to Threads of Life. The company is also subject to two years of enhanced regulatory supervision.

A third company which also faced charges related to the incident is scheduled for sentencing on 28 May 2025, while charges against a fourth, unnamed numbered company were stayed in 2024.

— Accurate at time of publication | May 2025

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