WORKPLACE SAFETY
Safe and environmentally responsible operations are the cornerstone
of Enbridge's key values, and we renew our commitment each day to
value the safety of our employees and the public, a clean and healthy
environment and strong, vibrant communities. We recognize safety
as being as important as our financial results and our quality of work,
and are focused on being "best-in-class" in terms of the safe operation
of our business in our different geographic regions.
OUR PERFORMANCE
Reducing injury frequency
When gauging world-class safety performance, days away injury
frequency is a useful comparative industry measure. Based on our
latest results, our workforce continues to show exceptional and
ongoing attention to injury prevention. In 2004, our days away
injury rate was 0.29 incidents per 200,000 hours worked, slightly
better than our performance in 2003 and 70% better than our
performance in 2000.
EMPLOYEE AWARENESS AND TRAINING
We believe that regular training and open communication with our
employees, which reminds staff when our performance is going well
and where we need to improve, is key to strong safety performance.
Our approach to workplace safety in our different business units
emphasizes the importance of identifying and addressing health and
safety risks before serious incidents occur.
Engaging employees
We believe strongly in the value of a grassroots approach to engaging
our employees on EH&S issues and activities. In Liquids Pipelines,
we have 53 local and regional EH&S committees. In Enbridge Gas
Distribution, providing local leadership on EH&S issues is the
responsibility of our 10 EH&S joint committees. And seven employee
working groups have been established in our U.S. Natural Gas
Business field operations. These committees bring together employees
and management to share best practices, promote consistent approaches
to EH&S and conduct regular workplace EH&S inspections.
Addressing soft tissue injuries
In recent years we have experienced an increasing number of slips,
trips and sprains by workers in our various businesses. This trend
prompted us to take action in 2004.
In Liquids Pipelines, we provided incident investigation training
to area supervisors and managers, all part of our effort to make our
investigations stronger so as to prevent the recurrence of safety
incidents in the workplace. Our regional EH&S committees also
delivered presentations to Liquids Pipelines employees on health and
safety issues, highlighting measures to avoid strains, sprains and slips.
In Enbridge Gas Distribution, we developed a series of awareness
articles addressing the most common contributing factors to soft tissue
injuries. These articles were distributed throughout Enbridge Gas
Distribution and used by supervisors to engage staff in safety-related
dialogue. We also introduced a safety training program targeted at
office staff in Ontario. More than 300 employees participated in the
two-hour seminar, covering ergonomic tips and how to identify safety
hazards in the office environment.
Promoting safe driving practices
Company-wide, we experienced a higher overall number of motor
vehicle incidents: 147 in 2004, versus 133 in 2003. Given this
increase, we aggressively promoted safe driving practices in all our
business units.
In Liquids Pipelines, we introduced a 10-step driving safety
action plan, which includes:
- creating a systematic motor vehicle investigation process
- training staff members, including senior management and regional managers, in incident investigation techniques
- restricting use of cell phones
- placing 1-800 number stickers on company-owned or leased vehicles, enabling the public to report unsafe driving incidents.
At year-end, more than 140 Liquids Pipelines employees in
Canada and the United States took defensive driving training.
We also established dedicated cross-functional teams to investigate
vehicle incidents, one for Canada and the other for the United States.
Enbridge Gas Distribution published a series of articles to promote
greater awareness of defensive driving safety among employees. The
business also promoted accident prevention through greater emphasis
on investigation techniques for motor vehicle accidents, which identify
root causes and develop practical recommendations. And in our
U.S. Natural Gas Business, more than 130 employees took defensive
driving training.
Increasing awareness training on hydrogen sulphide
Each year we provide awareness training to all our field employees
at our gas processing and treating facilities in Mississippi and Texas
so that they are alert to the dangers involved in working with
hydrogen sulphide and know how to carry out effective emergency
response procedures. Although not required by regulations, we also
provide this training to gas control staff, office employees and first
responder organizations.
Managing contractor safety
Our commitment to EH&S excellence extends beyond our own
employees to contractors who work at our locations. All contractors
must prove their commitment to safe work practices by meeting our
safety performance requirements and government regulations.
In 2004, Liquids Pipelines implemented a standard contractor
incident reporting system to provide greater consistency in the way we
promote contractor safety performance. The reporting system ensures
contractor incidents are communicated to the appropriate levels in
their companies, and improves tracking and analysis of safety trends
across our contractor workers.
Enbridge Gas Distribution also began a formal process to review
the EH&S practices of its four major construction and service contractors.
Through interviews and a health and safety survey, EH&S
professionals assessed their management systems and health and safety
procedures and training, and met with the contractor companies to
discuss opportunities for improvement.
^ top of page |