Prairie Bus Lines faces OHS charges in 2025 incident that hospitalized five

On scene at the fire in downtown Red Deer.

Witnesses say there was an explosion in the mechanics shop at Prairie Bus Lines but Red Deer emergency services say the fire is under investigation. pic.twitter.com/N58nubnfLf

— Ian Gustafson (@IanGustafson12) January 9, 2025

Safe Harbour, which is located next to Prairie Bus Lines and across the street from the emergency homeless shelter, said at the time that members of the Safe Harbour and Recovery Alberta medical teams, plus guests at the shelter, were first on scene after the explosion to help those injured.

A few months later, Prairie Bus Lines reported that the employees who were in the building at the time of the explosion were on the road to a full recovery.

The report by OHS states that Prairie Bus Lines failed to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the five workers who suffered burn injuries.

More specifically, they were charged with the following per the OHS report:

Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, failure to ensure the health, safety and welfare of workers engaged in the work of that employer, namely 5 workers, all of whom suffered burn injuries: failed to ensure service and/or maintenance work on a propane powered bus was done in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications.
Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, failure to ensure the health, safety and welfare of 5 of their workers, all of whom suffered burn injuries: permitted work on a bus powered by propane fuel that involved work in relation to the fuel system or parts thereof at an indoor location with one or more ignition sources.
Section 3(1)(a)(i) of the OHS Act, failure to ensure the health, safety and welfare of 5 of their workers, all of whom suffered burn injuries: permitted a worker to work on a bus powered by propane fuel when the worker had not been trained in safe procedures related to all aspects of their work, including how to access the fuel shutoff valve.
Section 3(2) of the OHS Act, failure to ensure their worker(s) were adequately trained in all matters necessary to perform their work in a healthy and safe manner: failed to ensure a worker was trained on how to access and/or shut off a fuel shutoff valve.
Section 3(2) of the OHS Act, failure to ensure their worker(s) were adequately trained in all matters necessary to perform their work in a healthy and safe manner: failed to ensure a worker was trained pursuant to the ROUSH CLEANTECH 2016-2020 Blue Bird Vision Propane Gen 4 Fuel System Manual, prior to assigning and/or permitting work involving accessing the fuel shutoff valve.
Section 7(1) of the OHS Code, failure to assess a work site and identify existing and potential hazards before work began at the work site or prior to the construction of a new work site: failed to assess and identify existing and potential hazards at its shop where a propane powered bus was brought for service and/or maintenance work.
Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, failure to ensure equipment was used, operated, handled, serviced, adjusted, maintained, repaired, and subjected to any other work in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications or the specifications certified by a professional engineer: failed to comply with the manufacturer’s specification that states “Keep at least 35ft away from heat, sparks, flames, static electricity, lighted smoking materials, or other sources of ignition when working with propane. Failure to heed this danger may result in severe personal injury or death”.
Section 12(e) of the OHS Code, failure to ensure equipment was used, operated, handled, serviced, adjusted, maintained, repaired, and subjected to any other work in accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications or the specifications certified by a professional engineer: failed to comply with the manufacturer’s specifications for fuel line purging which include the following: “1. Move the vehicle to a well-ventilated area at least 35 ft away from any potential ignition source. 2. Close the manual shutoff valve on the tank supply valve. 3. Disconnect the fuel pump electrical connectors at the fuel tank access cover. 4. Start the engine and let it run until it stalls.”
Section 15.1 of the OHS Code, where work was to be done in accordance with a manufacturer’s specifications or specifications certified by a professional engineer, failure to ensure that the specifications: Roush Clean Tech 2016-2020 Blue Bird Vision Propane Gen 4 Fuel System specifications, were readily available to the workers, supervisors and other persons at the work site.
Section 232(1) of the OHS Code, where a worker may be exposed to a flash fire, failure to ensure the workers, namely 5 workers, wore personal protective equipment that included flame resistant outerwear and used other personal protective equipment appropriate to the hazard.

Prairie Bus Lines will make their first court appearance on Sept. 28, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. at the Red Deer Court of Justice.

rdnewsNOW has reached out to the company, but they weren’t immediately available for comment.

by Ian Gustafson

Prairie Bus Lines faces OHS charges in 2025 incident that hospitalized five

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