Fatal workplace injury at Progress Energy well site

WorkSafe BC Media Officer Trish Chernecki says they were informed of the incident by the Fort St. John RCMP at 1:13 a.m. March 11, 2015, and have since assigned two officers to conduct an investigation.

Chernecki says the work site was either in or near Wonowon, B.C., and was immediately attended to by the police and the Coroners Office.

Senior vice president of production for Progress Energy Mark Fitzgerald says the fatal accident occurred when a Calfrac employee was conducting a completion operation.

“We really have no indication of what the cause was and we’ll allow the various investigations play out – understand the facts and anything [else] I can provide now would be nothing more than speculation,” says Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald has confirmed that Progress Energy, Calfrac Well Services and WorkSafe BC are all conducting their own investigations into the matter.

“We will work very closely and aggressively with both our investigation teams, as well as the appropriate regulators to understand fully what happened here and make sure that we do everything possible to prevent a reoccurrence,” explains Fitzgerald.

The name of the deceased is being withheld to respect the privacy of the victim’s family, says Fitzgerald.

The Fort St. John RCMP and Calfrac Well Services Ltd were unavailable for comment.

Fitzgerald says at this point, support for victim’s family is “paramount and at the forefront of all of our minds.”