Health and Safety

Health and safety is of utmost importance to oil and natural gas producers. Comprehensive regulations and requirements have been designed to maximize operational safety during exploration and production. Worker safety and safe operations help reliably deliver oil and natural gas.

Hazard identification, risk assessment, and the development, implementation and monitoring of controls is critical to supporting the safety of people and the environment. The oil and natural gas industry is committed to effectively managing workplace hazards, and eliminating as many of them as possible.

Each company develops and implements integrated safety management systems. These extend to a broad range of potential hazardous situations and can include:

Upstream oil and natural gas facilities are designed, maintained, and operated with a focus on process safety and asset integrity to ensure safe and reliable operational performance. In the event of an incident, community and worker safety, and environmental protection are the priorities.

Process safety is a disciplined framework for managing the integrity of operating systems and processes that handle hazardous substances. It relies on good design principles, engineering, and operating and maintenance practices. It deals with the prevention and control of events that have the potential to release hazardous materials and energy.

The terms “process safety” and “asset integrity” are both used throughout the industry, often interchangeably. The emphasis of process safety and asset integrity is to prevent unplanned releases that could result in a major incident. A major incident is typically initiated by a hazardous release, a structural failure or loss of stability.

The industry strives to ensure every worker – employees, contractors, and suppliers – goes home safe at the end of each workday. Part of achieving that goal is ensuring employees have the training and competencies they need to remain safe on the job. To be competent, personnel working individually, in teams and/or in organizations, must have the knowledge, experience and ability to carry out their assigned duties, to recognize their limitations and take appropriate action to mitigate risk.

Energy Safety Canada (ESC) is the national safety association for Canada’s energy industry. ESC is an independent not-for-profit organization that works closely with the oil and natural gas industry to develop recommended practices and training. ESC developed a set of 10 life-saving rules that address unsafe behaviours with the greatest risk for serious injuries and fatalities and establish a consistent approach for preventing them. The rules help manage the risks associated with working in the industry.

Developing new and inexperienced workers through supervision, mentoring and coaching is easier when they are identifiable as “Greenhands.” Greenhands are at higher risk for injury and occupational illness. Often, new workers wear a green hard hat or a green sticker on their hard hat. Visible identification of greenhands helps prevent assumptions about experience or skills. It also provides an opportunity to offer guidance in daily tasks.

Canada’s energy industry provides safety training, so everyone understands risks and how to reduce them. Industry programs provide practical, on-site mentoring of new employees by more experienced staff to improve overall competency. Companies also help workers manage fatigue, conduct drug and alcohol testing to ensure workers are fit for work, and emphasize driving safety. In addition to training, safety excellence is achieved through industry initiatives, recommended best practices, and regulations.

Proper selection, use, and maintenance of personal protective equipment (PPE) also safeguards workers from occupational risks.

Company management systems may align to a range of national and international standards, as well as provincial and federal regulatory requirements. Consistent auditing by companies and regulators verifies compliance with safety programs, standards and regulatory requirements. Audit programs and certifications are useful for verifying that systems are working and identifying opportunities for improvement.

Companies have contractor management systems to manage the risks associated with hiring contractors or service providers. The contractor or service provider’s health and safety management system is reviewed to determine if the contractor is qualified to perform the work. Multiple contractors and service providers are required and may simultaneously perform work on oil and gas worksites.  

Voluntary programs allow employer and worker representatives to collaborate with government in building effective health and safety management systems aimed at improving workplace safety, reducing social and financial costs of workplace injury and illness. Partnership Programs award Certificates of Recognition (CORs) to employers whose health and safety management systems meet established standards.

Common core courses include:

Effective operational safety requires a comprehensive and integrated approach that involves all levels within a company. It is an ongoing process that evolves with changes in technology, industry standards, and organizational needs.

Industry Recommended Practices (IRPs) are a set of recommended best practices meant to provide industry with advice on safe, efficient and environmentally suitable operating processes in drilling, completions, and servicing of wells across western Canada. IRPs are developed collaboratively, with experts from industry associations as well as provincial and federal regulators. IRPs are flexible and adaptive to meet and exceed recommended practices and legislative requirements.

Emergency Response Plans (ERPs) are designed to ensure safety and are a vital tool to protect people in areas near oil and natural gas operations. ERPs address public and facility protection and ensure that all emergency responders have a clear plan of action.

Comprehensive emergency management programs are maintained to help ensure companies are properly prepared for an emergency. Emergency management programs are based on an all-hazards, incident management system, which provides a standardized approach to emergency management that includes personnel, facilities, equipment, procedures, and communication operating within a common organizational structure. Emergency response training sessions and exercises are conducted regularly for key personnel.

Stakeholders, including members of the public, local governments, first responders and health authorities, in proximity to oil and gas operations are engaged and regularly consulted on site-specific Emergency Response Plans (ERPs) to identify and make available critical information such as potential hazards, emergency response procedures, contact information, and roles and responsibilities.

ERPs are activated to ensure all necessary and appropriate actions are taken and to resolve emergency situations, protect the public and workers, and mitigate damage to the environment and property.

Recovery from emergency events includes incident investigation, implementation of any necessary remediation, and sharing of learnings as appropriate.

Wildfires are unplanned fires caused by human activity or natural occurrences (such as lightning) and can have a devastating impact on people, the environment, and infrastructure. Despite best efforts to prevent wildfires, fires do occur. Wildfire behaviour is often unpredictable and influenced by drought, extreme weather conditions (particularly wind), topographical factors, and insect and disease infestations.

Preparing for the threat of wildfires is a shared responsibility. Communities, industries and all levels of government play roles in preventing and lessening the effects of wildfire. FireSmart^TM is a framework designed to mitigate the risk of and educate residents and stakeholders regarding the potential for large uncontrollable wildfires near communities and critical infrastructure. Industry applies FireSmart principles to its facilities and camps to identify potential hazards and mitigate site-specific risks.

The FireSmart Guidebook for the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry and CAPP’s Best Management Practice for Wildfire Prevention are two industry resources that work together to assist in the prevention of industry-related wildfires and help mitigate the impact of wildfires on personnel safety, the environment, industry infrastructure, and operations.  

A large portion of the upstream oil and natural gas industry operates in forested areas where the threat from wildfire and associated smoke is significant. To safeguard facilities from wildfire activity, facility infrastructure is constructed using steel materials and a vegetation-free buffer zone is maintained around sites. Additional equipment and water may be stored on site for fire suppression. Producers review and update emergency response plans at least annually, and conduct employee training and emergency drills at all facilities regularly.

During high or extreme wildfire danger periods, oil and gas industry safety personnel may review certain operations to determine if special operating procedures are required to protect field personnel and facilities from a potential wildfire threat and to reduce the risk of starting a wildfire. During an active wildfire threat, some oil and gas facilities may proactively shut down or shut in production. Industry works closely and continually with provincial agencies and local stakeholders to coordinate wildfire response, and provides equipment and resources as needed to assist emergency crews during wildfire events.

Additional resources for field operators include:

Within individual companies, worksite health and safety committees include employer and worker representatives who collaborate to reduce injuries and incidents and to promote health and safety in the workplace.

Each company designs safety programs, training, and sets standards for safety performance.

Keeping workers safe requires proactive measures and continuous improvements to safety based on learnings from historical incidents. Industry develops safety alerts, bulletins, toolkits and guidelines for education and awareness.

Tracking statistics can identify where trends are increasing or if certain projects or sites are experiencing a higher rate of incidents. This information can then be used to drive improved safety performance. Understanding which metrics to record is key to creating useful benchmarks, which is why the industry has a health and safety metrics guide.