Written by Shawn Slaght, DiscoverMooseJaw.com
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has upheld an arbitrator’s ruling that SaskEnergy improperly required five employees to undergo drug and alcohol testing following two separate gas-line strikes, including one near Moose Jaw in 2019.
In a unanimous decision released on Aug. 26, the court dismissed SaskEnergy’s appeal and confirmed compensation awards ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 for the affected workers, all represented by Unifor Local 649.
The grievance arose after two workplace incidents starting in July 2019, a SaskEnergy crew struck a buried gas line near Moose Jaw during trenching operations. In March 2020, a worker struck a buried gas line while excavating on White Bear First Nation.
SaskEnergy then required the employees involved to undergo drug and alcohol testing under its workplace policy. All tests came back negative, and none of the workers were disciplined.
The union argued SaskEnergy had no basis under its policy to order testing because there was no evidence drugs or alcohol were a factor in either incident.
The first incident occurred on July 17, 2019, at an acreage near Moose Jaw where a SaskEnergy crew was connecting a new natural gas service line, according to the facts laid out in the decision.
Before the work began, SaskEnergy employees had marked the location of the existing gas line, while a contractor marked a buried telephone cable. Workers noticed the markers for the two utilities appeared unusually close together.
The crew lead was concerned enough to contact another SaskEnergy employee and ask for the gas line location to be double-checked. He also contacted the contractor responsible for locating the phone line and was assured its markings were accurate.
As the work began, the hydrovac operator was unable to locate the gas line where the markers indicated. He reported it to the crew lead, but trenching continued.
The trenching machine operator then struck the buried gas line about 135 metres from the house and about 35 metres from the designated tie-in point. The damaged line released pressurized natural gas.
SaskEnergy would argue the actions of the experienced crew, continuing to dig despite uncertainty about where the gas line was located, were so abnormal and contrary to training and safety procedures that drug and alcohol testing was reasonable.
