Workplace Health & Safety

Tim Howard and Bill Trefanenko

Left to right:
Tim Howard and Bill Trefanenko

For the past three years, Enbridge has sponsored an undergraduate mentorship program at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, providing positive experiences for mentors and valuable guidance for business students.

“I like working with young people, I like fresh minds,” explains Bill Trefanenko, Director of International Operations for Enbridge International who was a mentor this past year. “It takes time to be a mentor but I’ll sure be doing it again as the personal rewards are significant.”

This past year, Bill was matched up with Tim Howard, a University of Calgary student currently completing Finance/ Marketing and Psychology degrees simultaneously. Tim was interested in the practical side of business and Bill says he was very keen in learning about the business world and asked a lot of relevant questions. He was very impressed with the energy and ambition of his young protégé.

The mentorship program, sponsored by Enbridge, recently completed its third year of operation. Each year, the program benefits from a high level of representation by Enbridge employees as volunteer mentors. In addition, Voula Cocolakis, director of the Career Centre, confirms that a total of 27 local organizations are now represented by their employees who contribute their time and expertise as volunteer mentors.

Once a student is matched with a mentor – who is typically in the same field the student is studying – the two get together to discuss how to structure their relationship. Meetings between Bill and Tim took place every three weeks and were held in Bill’s office, over lunch or at the university depending on their schedules. As well as one-on-one meetings, Bill helped introduce Tim to the business world by having him join him on conference calls with international clients and in attending business conferences.

“We learn theory at school but it comes down to having good people skills in the real world,” says Tim. “Bill gave me an insight into how to deal successfully with people. I look at him, in his position and see the considerate and respectful nature he has when dealing with people, which facilitates the building of mutually beneficial relationships. That’s what brings success in business. The mentorship program is a great initiative because it has given me a real-life perspective of the corporate world – something far more than a textbook can offer.”

We value the health and safety of our employees and the public. For Enbridge, we are focused on being “best-in-class” in operational health and safety in all our geographic regions.

Our approach to workplace health and safety emphasizes the importance of open communication with employees; training; prevention, which requires identifying and addressing health and safety risks before serious incidents occur; and engaging with industry peers.

OUR PERFORMANCE

We deeply regret that in November 2005 an Enbridge Gas Distribution employee died on the job. The employee had been dispatched to a residence to investigate a damaged natural gas service line. The company continues to cooperate with the local authorities as they complete their investigation into the incident. Enbridge Gas Distribution has conducted its own internal investigation of the incident and has taken measures to prevent a recurrence. These measures include a review of its systems and procedures, and appropriate changes to further enhance public and employee safety.

Top of page Reducing injury frequency

When gauging world-class safety performance, days-away injury frequency is a statistical comparative industry measure. Based on our latest results, our workforce continues to show exceptional and ongoing attention to injury prevention. In 2005, our days-away injury rate in Liquids Pipelines was 0.25 incidents per 200,000 hours worked, better than our 0.52 frequency rate in 2004.

For 2005, our Liquids Pipelines business unit achieved a 50 per cent reduction in days-away injuries and a 36 per cent reduction in medical-aid injuries. Liquids Pipelines received the Canadian Energy Pipelines Association’s 2005 award for the lowest injury frequency rate in Canada in the large pipeline category. Although we do not conduct our safety programs for the awards, we believe this recognition is indicative of the high priority everyone at Enbridge is giving to employee safety.

Top of page Establishing measures and setting targets

Enbridge Gas Distribution publishes an annual “Scorecard” to inform employees about the business unit’s annual strategic objectives for the year and key performance indicators. For 2006, we added two new safety measurements to the Scorecard. In addition to the days-away injury frequency measure, for which our target is 0.62 injuries per 200,000 working hours, we have added:

  • days-away injury – severity. This tracks time lost due to work-related injuries. The target is 8.60 days per 200,000 working hours; and
  • reportable vehicle accidents. This measures vehicle accidents per million kilometres driven, including personal injuries or property damage. The target is 3.80 accidents per million kilometres driven.

Another key measure is our Public Safety and Reliability Index, which gauges the effectiveness of Enbridge Gas Distribution programs to deliver natural gas safely and reliably to customers. Targets in this measure include: emergency response; inspection of valves, regulator stations and customer appliances; leak repairs; and third-party damages. Enbridge Gas Distribution’s target for this is 3.00, which is a numerical representation of the safety and reliability of our distribution system.

Top of page Participating in industry associations

To help us attain our goal to be “best-in-class” among gas distribution utilities, Enbridge Gas Distribution is an active participant on the Canadian Gas Association’s Safety Task Force, which gathers safety statistics to analyze cross-industry trends. In the first half of 2006, the task force reported on industry-wide employee injuries and vehicle accidents and the conclusions are being used by Enbridge and other Canadian gas utilities to determine which targeted short-term strategies would have the greatest impact on reducing accidents. The task force is also examining which higher-level factors can help build a best-in-class safety culture and performance, such as senior management commitment and the use of leading safety indicators to improve safe behaviours before accidents happen.

Enbridge Gas Distribution is also an active member of the Safety and Occupational Health Committee of the American Gas Association. The committee is currently investigating use of leading indicators (versus lagging safety indicators), improvement of assessment of the safety performance and safety management systems of contractors, and placing emphasis on integrating ergonomics principles into office and field tasks.

Top of page Engaging employees

We believe strongly in the value of a grassroots approach to engaging our employees on health and safety issues. We do this through training, communication programs, and our well-established network of local and regional safety committees that provide input from our front-line staff and reinforce a safety culture within the organization. Following are a few examples of our activities:

  • In 2005, Liquids Pipelines conducted an innovative safety training program that used a mock criminal trial format to communicate key supervisory safety expectations to the more than 85 Canadian supervisors who participated. In each training session, an area supervisor was “charged” for a fictional but realistic safety incident. In a simulated trial before a “judge” (played by a real regulatory lawyer), the supervisor was questioned on her or his decisions that led up to the incident by an actual occupational health and safety prosecutor.
  • Also in 2005, our United States Natural Gas Business held their first-ever Health and Safety Fair, organized to coincide with the annual physical ‘check-up’ for Houston-based employees. Through information booths and seminars, employees learned about everything from managing workplace stress and diet and nutrition, to driving, fire and home safety.
  • Enbridge Gas Distribution ensures all new office and field employees receive core safety and environmental training promptly following their start date. This business unit employs more than 100 summer students, all of whom are required to receive core environment, health and safety training as the first item of business when they start. They are also provided close supervision and coaching from the outset of their summer duties. In addition, over 900 of the business unit’s staff who have office-related duties have participated in two-hour office safety training sessions, which were introduced in 2004.
  • In 2005, Inuvik Gas Ltd., in which Enbridge has a 33 per cent interest, participated in the Occupational Safety and Health Week organized by the Northwest Territories Workers’ Compensation Board (NWT WCB). Inuvik Gas held daily safety activities for their eight employees focused on such issues as helicopter safety, carbon monoxide awareness and contractor safety. The NWT WCB recognized Inuvik Gas’s innovative Safety Week program as the best for companies with up to 20 employees. It was the sixth consecutive year Inuvik Gas had received the award.

Top of page Addressing emerging issues

As our business grows and changes, we make an effort to identify emerging issues and manage them proactively.

For example, Liquids Pipelines has announced plans to construct two new pipelines to transport diluent – a light hydrocarbon that will be blended with the heavy bitumen that will be produced in the oil sands so the bitumen can flow to markets through existing and planned pipelines. As Enbridge prepares to add a new product to our mix of hydrocarbons transported, we will develop a worker and contractor training program to ensure they are aware of potential hazards of these hydrocarbons if exposed to high concentrations, such as when working in confined spaces.

Another emerging issue concerns abrasive blast agents, which Liquids Pipelines uses to prepare surfaces during pipeline integrity digs and tank refurbishment. In 2005, we commissioned a major study on the effects of abrasive blasting, looking at several areas including worker exposure to airborne dust and characteristics of wastes generated. While the independent third-party study found that in most cases our employees were using the appropriate level of respiratory protection, it made several recommendations including use of alternative blast media, use of full-face respirators and protective clothing, and provision of hygiene facilities. We are now addressing the study’s findings and recommendations.

At Enbridge Gas Distribution, prior to introducing new equipment or chemicals to the workplace and making significant changes to operating procedures, we conduct a formal, multi-departmental new product/new process review, which includes an assessment of safety and environmental issues that may result from the change, and entails understanding what controls will be needed to address those issues. We also identify opportunities for improvement of current safety and environmental performance, such as preferring new tools that reduce ergonomic strain or choosing water-based paints over solvent-based paints. This assessment of hazards and opportunities in the early planning stages contributes substantially to improving the quality of our decision-making process.

We are also concerned about the slips, trips and sprains that our employees may experience on the job and we have ongoing programs to address these soft-tissue injuries.

In 2005, Liquids Pipelines in the United States commissioned third-party experts to analyze the ergonomic stressors and pressure risks of several field staff disciplines, including pipeline maintenance staff, terminal maintainers and gaugers, electricians and mechanics. We are now acting on their recommendations, as well as those from a previous study of office workers.

Enbridge Gas Distribution conducted ergonomic assessments of the use of keyhole technology, which is revolutionizing how we inspect and repair our distribution pipelines. In keyhole operations, rather than digging a large excavation to expose a pipeline, an 18-inch diameter hole is excavated down to the pipeline by vacuum suction, and long-handled tools are used to inspect and maintain the exposed pipeline, with work crew members remaining at ground level above the pipeline. This process is already considered valuable for its reduced disturbance to both the environment and local traffic. In 2005, we conducted ergonomic assessments of vacuum excavation and of cutting and handling of the concrete or asphalt “cores” that are removed to excavate down to the pipeline. The assessments demonstrated overall improvement of ergonomic safety through use of keyhole technology versus traditional open-trench excavations, and identified a few areas for further reducing soft-tissue strain within these operations.

Top of page Promoting safe driving practices

Company-wide, we experienced a lower overall number of motor vehicle incidents: 124 in 2005, versus 128 in 2004. We continue to promote safe driving practices in all our business units.

Vehicle incidents in our United States Natural Gas Business dropped in 2005. From 2004 to 2005 our trucking business achieved a 70 per cent reduction in our preventable vehicle incident ratio and our pipeline assets achieved a 49 per cent reduction.

Our United States Natural Gas Business also evaluated past vehicle accidents in 2005 and as a result has introduced a driver’s safety initiative in 2006 with the goal of eliminating vehicle accidents. The program includes comprehensive defensive driver training and installation of backup alarms on company vehicles.

At Liquids Pipelines, a 10-step driving safety action plan helped reduce their incidents by 29 per cent in 2005. Liquids Pipelines was honoured to receive the Canadian Energy Pipelines Association’s 2005 award for the lowest motor vehicle incident frequency rate among our industry peers.

In 2005, Enbridge Gas Distribution analyzed factors contributing to vehicle accidents from the previous three years and out of that developed an in-class defensive driving course for employees. Focused on improving accident prevention, the course emphasizes recognizing and improving driver attitude, improving constant awareness of surroundings, minimizing driver distractions, and the importance of paying special attention when navigating intersections. As of June 2006, more than 700 Enbridge Gas Distribution staff had taken the course.

Top of page Pandemic planning

Based upon Enbridge’s experiences with the SARS outbreak in Ontario in 2003, the company has been able to get an early start on pandemic planning. At Enbridge Gas Distribution, issues unique to gas distribution over other types of operations include the need to service individual customer homes and business premises, which entails direct contact with the public when responding to reported gas emergencies.

As such, mission critical functions must have contingencies in place to allow for the continuation of operations – particularly those relating to flowing gas to customer premises and being able to receive and respond to reported natural gas field emergencies. The Enbridge Gas Distribution Public Health Emergency Plan has been developed with contingencies that can be employed should any kind of pandemic outbreak occur. The plan contains event triggers that align with our current emergency plans and emergency operating conditions.

Because all sectors of society would be affected during an outbreak, it is important that Enbridge Gas Distribution is involved with all government agencies. We are involved in workshops and mock exercises within industry sector groups to practice communications channels and identify opportunities and gaps that must be addressed to ensure that support will be in place to assist us in delivering natural gas to our customers during an outbreak. Enbridge Gas Distribution is also leading a Canadian Gas Association task force that is mandated to develop recommendations to member gas companies.

Our Liquids Pipelines and United States Natural Gas business have also developed and implemented their plans based on the same format as EGD.

All company departments already have business continuity and resumption plans in place to deal with threats to the most critical functions. These threats have traditionally focused on the loss of a facility, the loss of a supporting utility, or the loss of IT applications. But in the case of pandemic planning, it is crucial to plan for large numbers of staff absences that can be expected during an outbreak. It is also important to have measures to be used to protect staff and facilities during any kind of outbreak.