A worker at a Redwater site climbed onto a scaffold on August 10, 2023, to remove hoarding. They slipped and fell into an open utility corridor in the ground that contained hot water.
The province describes the result as serious injuries.
On July 30, Brock Canada Field Services Ltd. pleaded guilty in the Fort Saskatchewan Court of Justice to one count under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker. The court fined the company $132,000, including the victim fine surcharge.
Five charges became one
The province publishes every OHS charge it lays, and the listing for this case is more specific than the news release.
Brock Canada was originally charged with five counts as an employer. Among them was one alleging it failed to adequately communicate to the worker the hazard of an open blow down pit.
Four were withdrawn.
Nutrien (Canada) Holdings ULC was charged in the same matter as prime contractor, with two counts. One alleged it failed to conduct its own activities so that no person was exposed to hazards at the work site. The other alleged it failed to ensure that any employer, supplier or service provider on the site was informed of existing or potential hazards.
Both were withdrawn.
The second Redwater plea in two months
On June 10, at the same courthouse, Nutrien pleaded guilty over a different incident at its Redwater nitrogen plant.
On May 2, 2023, members of a site emergency response team were on a familiarization tour of the ammonia rail car system when several were sprayed with anhydrous ammonia. Two workers suffered serious injuries.
The count Nutrien pleaded to alleged that an eyewash facility at the work site would not safely perform the function it was designed for. Sixteen other counts were withdrawn.
That incident was May 2, 2023. The scaffold fall was August 10, 2023. Three months apart, same facility.
Where the money goes is different in each case
Nutrien's $125,000 was not paid as a fine.
Under the creative sentencing provisions in section 49 of the OHS Act, the court directed the money to Emergency Response Assistance Canada, which will develop and deliver specialized ammonia safety training for first responders. That includes a free online curriculum and in-person training focused on rail and industrial incidents in Alberta's Industrial Heartland.
Brock Canada's $132,000 is a conventional fine, including the victim fine surcharge.
"Nutrien confirms that we have entered a guilty plea in relation to a 2023 incident at our Redwater facility that resulted in worker injuries. We deeply regret this incident," Shawn Churchill, Nutrien's media relations lead, said in June.
Hot water keeps coming up
The hazard in the Brock Canada case isn't unusual in Alberta's industrial sector.
In March 2026 the province charged Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy (Syncrude) Operating Inc. with 14 counts over an April 2024 incident at Fort McMurray, where a worker opening a valve on a 36-inch line was seriously injured when hot water and product released. Those charges include allegations of failing to replace an open air drain with a hard-piped system and failing to correct a misaligned funnel drain.
Those charges have not been proven in court.
The pattern in both files is the same: hot process water in an open or unenclosed part of a work site, and a worker who ended up in it.
All of this is public
The province maintains three running lists on alberta.ca that most people don't know exist.
Charges under the OHS Legislation shows every pending case, naming the company, the location, the date of the alleged offence, a description of what happened and every section allegedly contravened. Convictions under the OHS Legislation shows the outcomes. Prosecution outcomes shows the cases where charges were withdrawn, stayed, appealed or the party was found not guilty.
When a case is resolved, it moves off the charges page and onto one of the other two. That's how you can see, in the Nutrien matter, that 17 counts became one.
Charges under the OHS Act may be laid when a failure to follow the rules results in a fatality or serious injury. Both companies and the Crown have 30 days to appeal a conviction or penalty. Court documents come from the Fort Saskatchewan Court of Justice rather than the ministry.
Sources:
Government of Alberta, "Company fined for workplace injury," August 5, 2026: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=96592377DC0F9-DA30-3BCD-83C88C0BFEA53593
Government of Alberta, Charges under the OHS Legislation: https://www.alberta.ca/charges-under-ohs-legislation
Government of Alberta, Convictions under the OHS Legislation: https://www.alberta.ca/convictions-under-ohs-legislation
Government of Alberta, Prosecution outcomes: https://www.alberta.ca/prosecution-outcomes
Occupational Health and Safety Act, sections 3(1)(a)(i), 10(7)(c), 10(10) and 49
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