Enbridge Inc.
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2005 Corporate Social Responsibility Report
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Our Social Performance

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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

blockReducing 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.

blockEngaging 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.

blockAddressing soft tissue injuries

Days Away Chart

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.

blockPromoting 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.

blockIncreasing 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.

blockManaging 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.

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The Hot Seat

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