Suncor pleads guilty to two counts related to the incident aboard the Terra Nova in 2019

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

Suncor Energy has pleaded guilty to two counts related to an incident aboard the floating production, storage and offloading vessel Terra Nova in 2019 that resulted in hundreds of thousands in fines.

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

In a statement released 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, bringing the total fine to $90,000. It was also ordered to pay $20,000 to the North Atlantic Health and Safety Management Program.

Suncor was accused of failing to take adequate measures to ensure the health and safety of employees and people on board the vessel. The second allegation involved failure to ensure that all employees in a confined space were wearing safety belts attached to a secure and anchored lifeline.

The charges were filed after C-NLOPB occupational safety officers investigated the 2019 incident.

CBC News has reached out to Suncor for an interview.

On December 19 – nearly two weeks before the employee fell aboard the Terra Nova FPSO – Suncor was ordered to halt production due to defective, redundant fire water pumps on the Terra Nova.

Then in January 2020, industry regulator ordered Suncor Energy to stop all indoor work on the Terra Nova oil platform. The board also ordered that all of Suncor's indoor work policies and procedures be reviewed and updated for compliance with regulatory requirements.

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