By Canadian Press
News oil sands processing safety SuncorThe chief executive of Suncor Energy said that he is taking steps to make the Canadian oil producer safer for its workers and its operations more reliable, after an employee died last month.
The worker died at Suncor’s Base plant in Alberta’s oil sands on Jan. 6, after a heavy haul truck rear-ended a second truck at the mine. The incident is the fourth fatality at a Suncor facility since late 2020, according to Scotiabank.
“As CEO, the accountability for safety and operational excellence is with me, period. Like, I own this,” CEO Mark Little said on a quarterly conference call with analysts.
Suncor Energy Inc. will adopt mining safety technology for the first time in the oilsands after a recent fatality that marked the company’s fourth workplace death since late 2020.
The change is among a series of efforts to improve safety at its sites, Suncor chief executive Mark Little said Thursday during a conference call to discuss fourth quarter earnings.
“As CEO, the accountability for safety and operational excellence is with me, period,” he told analysts. “I have a comprehensive plan endorsed by our board and we’re executing this plan to address these concerns.”
The company will implement collision avoidance and fatigue management technology across all of its mobile mine equipment within the next 18 to 24 months, Little said.
“This is a technology that is used globally in mining, but it is not used in oilsands. So we’ll be the first oilsands company to universally use this all across the mines,” he said.
Last month, a truck crash at Suncor’s Base Mine site near Fort McMurray, Alta. resulted in the death of a contractor.
The company has said one heavy haul truck rear-ended a second heavy haul truck while they were both driving up a mine haul ramp.
