Worker dies at Suncor Energy oil sands site

Photo from Suncor Energy image gallery

A worker has died at one of Suncor Energy’s oil sands operations in Alberta, the company announced on Sunday evening.

Suncor says they were unable to locate the employee at which point the RCMP and Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) were notified and a full-scale search began.

“The employee was located a few hours later and was declared deceased at the scene,” the company wrote.

“Suncor is working with the appropriate authorities and will complete a full investigation into the cause of the incident.”

A company spokesman told the CBC news that the employee was found in the sand-dump area.

According to data from the Alberta government, OHS investigated five fatalities in the mining and petroleum industries last year – as of November 2013. Only the construction sector recorded more deaths.

The last time a worker died at a Suncor operation was in August 2011 when a 56-year old man was struck by a loose piece of equipment.