Canadian Natural Resources Limited has built Phase I of the gigantic oil sands project known as Horizon Oil Sands where it awarded a contract to a subsidiary of Sinopec, SSEC Canada Ltd. (whose parent company is Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company Ltd.) for the construction of two tank farms comprising eleven storage tanks and the supply of the required labor.
SSEC Canada Ltd. brought in temporary foreign workers into Canada to do the work in 2006 and 2007. On April 24, 2007 an accident on site occurred. Two Chinese workers died and five more were injured, two seriously.
Safety of Chinese workers and laws allegedly ignored
An investigation by Alberta health and safety officials, along with employment standards personnel, ensued and this spring 53 charges were laid in total against the three companies for allegedly unsafe working conditions which led to the fatalities and injuries -- SSEC Canada Ltd., Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Company Ltd., and CNRL, said Barrie Harrison with Alberta Employment and Immigration in Edmonton in a phone interview last week.
Accidents happen all the time but there are two other problems that have arisen since dealing with the Chinese entities. The first is that the court case had to be delayed because of Sinopec and the second issue is that the Chinese workers were not paid by their Chinese employer even though they worked four months before the accident and their quick departure.
“Sinopec now claims that they have no representatives in Canada so we are unable to ‘serve’ them and the court case was delayed until we can establish who their official representatives are and serve them notice,†said Chris Chodan, spokesman for the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Branch. “The next court appearance is scheduled for 14 September. The court case could actually proceed without Sinopec being present however.â€