Industrial accident claims three lives in Leduc, Alberta

 

Industrial accident claims three lives in Leduc, Alberta

By
Penny Smith

15 December 2018

A tragic workplace accident in the small Canadian town of Leduc, just south of Edmonton, Alberta, has claimed the lives of three workers. Just before 3PM on November 15th, emergency crews were called to a chemical-industrial site in the Leduc Business Park. Three men aged 31, 34, and 52 who worked there were declared dead soon after.

Little information has been released about the circumstances surrounding the fatalities. Alberta Federation of Labour spokesperson Trent Bancarz stated, “We don’t have details of exactly what happened.” Leduc Mayor Bob Young claimed the men were killed in a “gas accident” and offered his condolences to the victims’ families.

The occupational disaster took place at Millennium Cryogenic Technologies, a facility that uses liquid nitrogen as a strengthening agent for equipment manufactured for the oil industry. The company has not released a public statement on the incident.

Cody, the son of Daryn Bondarchuck, one of the men who died, said his father had worked at the plant for about two years. He related that his father was a careful person who took safety seriously.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), a provincial government agency, took over the inquiry into the Leduc accident from the RCMP. OHS only allowed the company to resume operations in late November but has been reluctant to provide any details on its investigation into what led to the accident.

Members of the Alberta cryogenics industry responded with apparent surprise to the fatal accident. President of Alberta Cryogenics Jeff Worth asserted, “while nitrogen is classified as a dangerous good, working with it is generally considered low risk … It’s safe, as long as it’s…

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