April 8 (Reuters) - Oil sands producer Syncrude Canada,

majority-owned by Suncor Energy ( SU ), will pay C$390,000

($287,187.04) after pleading guilty to a health and safety

charge relating to the death of a worker on one of its sites in

2021, the Alberta government said on Monday.

The worker had been operating an excavator to build a berm

at a site near Fort McKay in northern Alberta when the bank the

excavator was on slumped into water, Alberta Occupational Health

and Safety said in a statement. The excavator cab became

submerged and the worker drowned.

It was one of five deaths at oil sands sites run by Suncor,

Canada's second-largest oil producer, between late 2020 and

mid-2022. The fatalities contributed to pressure from U.S.-based

activist investment firm Elliot to overhaul management and

operations at Suncor, and prompted the resignation of former CEO

Mark Little.

Syncrude Canada pleaded guilty on April 4 to one charge of

failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker, while four

other charges brought under the Alberta Occupational Health and

Safety Act were withdrawn.

Under a scheme known as creative sentencing, the company

will pay C$390,000 to two University of Alberta centers and the

Alberta Municipal Health and Safety Association to help develop

safer practices around trenching and excavation work.

Suncor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the company's annual report, released last month, CEO

Rich Kruger said there had been no deaths or life-threatening

injuries in 2023.

($1 = 1.3580 Canadian dollars)