Skip to content

Yukon court fines company whose drill operator died on the job in 2021

Following guilty pleas to regulatory violations Saffa Engineering Ltd. and its president must pay $80,000.
15767796_web1_070717-law-courts_web
The law courts in Whitehorse. (Mike Thomas/Yukon News files)

Following the 2021 death of a drill operator working on a highways project near Stewart Crossing, the Yukon territorial court imposed an $80,000 penalty against the company he was working for and its president following guilty pleas. 

A written judgment from judge Kathleen Caldwell notes the tragic nature of the driller Usman Khan’s death as well as the profound impacts on his employer Syed Ahmad of Ontario-based Saffa Engineering Inc. who showed sincere remorse. The judgment was handed down on July 17.,

Saffa Engineering entered guilty pleas to occupational health and safety act charges dealing with its failure to ensure effective guards were in place on the drill as required by regulations and failure to ensure that machinery was safe. 

Ahmad pleaded guilty to failing to take all reasonable precautions to prevent injury to Khan. 

The judgment notes that Khan had recently taken over the role of site supervisor after another Saffa employee returned to Ontario. He did not have the site supervisor certification required by Northern Safety Network Yukon (NSNY). He also continued to operate the drill. 

The facts of Khan’s death on Nov. 13, 2021 are outlined in the court judgment. It is noted that the driller’s helper working with Khan stepped away for a drink of water with Khan’s permission, contrary to the company safety manual. When he returned two minutes later, Khan had been mortally injured by the drill which was still spinning with its lever locked in place.

Emergency stop buttons did not respond and the drill had to be switched off at its ignition. 

When the drill rig was inspected as part of the investigation into Khan’s death, 44 deficiencies ranging from minor to “very serious and dangerous” were noted. 

As no one was present to see Khan’s fatal injury, only theories about what happened could be presented to the court. 

The court heard that Khan had received a warning from his supervisor for attempting to clear dirt from the moving drill’s auger by hand in the past and other employees stated he continued to do this after the supervisor’s departure.

The possibility that Khan was injured when trying to remove dirt from the rotating auger, or otherwise trying to free it, was advanced, as was the possibility that he slipped and fell into the rotating machinery. 

Noted among the safety deficiencies in the court judgment was an overly-long pin used to connect the auger to a solid shaft on the drill. The judgment states that proper pins were available but not used. It states that the RCMP’s investigation into the incident concluded that the cuff of Khan’s glove caught on the pin.

A failure of the drill’s transmission that made it only functional in third gear and reverse is also noted. The court found that Khan was the only one aware of the transmission defect and that safe operation requires that a lower gear be used at the start of drilling to prevent binding.

The court decision notes that Ahmad accompanied Khan’s body back to his family in Pakistan. Weight was also placed on prompt guilty pleas that Ahmad and the company expressed an intention to complete early in the court process. 

It also makes clear that Ahmad was not present on the site on the day Khan died.

“This is not a situation in which the safety deficits were allowed to continue under the direct supervision and knowledge of the owner. The penalty must reflect, however, that Mr. Ahmad was responsible for on-site safety violations given he is president of the company and signer of the Safety Plan.”

The penalty the court ordered totalled $80,000 with 60 per cent going as a contribution to NSNY and the remaining 40 per cent as a fine. 

Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com



Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
Read more