We have robust emergency preparedness and response systems—which we constantly test, review and improve—in the unlikely event of a pipeline incident.

Business Context and our Strategic Response

At Enbridge, we plan for safe, reliable, incident-free operations, in keeping with our belief that all incidents can be prevented—and that no release is acceptable.

We also prepare to respond in the unlikely event of an incident involving the operation of our assets. Robust emergency preparedness and response systems are in place, regularly tested and continually enhanced through our own experience and learnings and through best practice within and beyond our industry. We partner proactively with local first responders, emergency management groups, and state and federal agencies.

We regularly review our emergency management programs across our businesses to ensure that they are functioning as intended and identify improvement opportunities. In the event of an incident, our employees and contractors are well trained and equipped to ensure a safe, rapid and effective response.

Our Approach

Emergency preparedness requires a systematic approach to identify potential hazards and plan mitigation and remediation tactics so that a response is rapid and effective, and ensures the safety of responders, the community and the environment. An overview of our Emergency Management Programs is available here.

Enbridge’s emergency management programs, which are implemented within all our business units, guide our emergency preparedness and response. Our programs use an organizational structure for incident management that, depending on the nature and magnitude of an incident, covers all levels of the organization—from front-line workers to executive leadership—and can be activated immediately. Additionally, these programs are regularly reviewed and periodically audited to ensure their continual improvement and proper functioning.

Our Performance

Ensuring our Emergency Response Plans Are Current

Our comprehensive emergency response plans are tailored to each business unit to cover distinct operations and risks, including geographic-specific information. We regularly review, audit, update and test these plans to ensure they work as expected. Our emergency management programs outline the review and improvement cycles. All of our regulated plans were updated in 2018. Relevant information from our emergency response plans is shared with local first responders.

Training our Emergency Response Teams

We place high importance on training our employees and direct contractors that would be involved in an emergency response. The training individuals receive aligns with the role they would fill during a response, and covers potential hazards or risks that may be encountered during an emergency. Through the end of 2018, approximately 2,700 of our employees and direct contractors have received emergency response training. And over 94% of the required training courses were completed across the enterprise by the end of 2018.

Our emergency response training uses the Incident Command System (ICS), a federally recognized emergency response methodology applied across North America by military, first-response agencies, and local, state, provincial and federal governments. ICS enables our employees and contractors to react quickly and efficiently to the emerging issues and challenges that are inevitable in a real-life emergency response.

In addition to ICS training, we design emergency response training programs that meet the specific needs of each of our business units, and which reflect their specific risks and types of emergency situations. For example, operations staff in our LP business unit may complete booming, skimming and boat-handling courses.

Maintaining and Strengthening Enbridge’s Emergency Response Team

E3RT
Our Enbridge Enterprise Emergency Response Team (E³RT) is a cross-business-unit group trained to respond to large-scale events in Canada and the U.S. that require more resources than one of our operating regions or business units alone could provide. The E3RT members are trained in ICS. In 2018, the E3RT participated in the full scale Des Plaines River exercise hosted by LP's Great Lakes Region.

Exercising our emergency response teams
To maintain and exercise preparedness, we stage both discussionbased and operations-based exercises across the Company, including seminars, workshops and tabletop drills as well as full-scale exercises involving our employees and contractors, local first responders and other third-party agencies. In 2018, Enbridge staged 315 drills, exercises and equipment deployments to hone our emergency preparedness skills and capabilities.

During these exercises, local first responders, agencies, government and industry representatives get a firsthand look at how we are prepared to respond in the event of an incident and provide feedback on how they would respond or assist during a pipeline emergency.

Working with key industry and emergency response associations
When required, our field response teams work with local emergency responders. We value the expertise of local emergency responders, and we are committed to strengthening our partnerships with them through meetings, training exercises, personal contact, information updates and our Emergency Responder Education Program.

Through industry associations, we exchange best practices with other operators and participate in committee activities and joint exercises for the purpose of advancing safety and emergency preparedness. In the U.S., we actively participate in public awareness groups sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the Common Ground Alliance. In Canada, we are a member of the Canadian Gas Association and the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

We are also a member of the Pipeline Operators Safety Partnership, a group of pipeline operators who work together to build relationships with first responders and promote pipeline safety at annual conferences. In addition, Enbridge Gas Inc. (GDS) is an associate member of the Northeast Gas Association, which can provide additional resources from nearby utility companies, if needed, to support a company’s response to a significant incident on its natural gas distribution system.