In early 2020, Canada’s offshore operators embarked on a collective continuous improvement journey. In addition to individual company efforts to continue raising the bar on environment, health and safety performance, they saw an opportunity to work together to enhance information sharing and collaboration across the industry. They agreed on a collective vision: that Atlantic Canada is the safest and most environmentally sustainable offshore oil and natural gas operating region in the world.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has published a report, Collaborating for Safety and Environmental Sustainability: A Continuous Improvement Plan for 2023-2025. The document recaps key achievements from the first three years of this initiative and outlines new objectives for the next phase. Among the key milestones are:
- Planned and co-hosted an Offshore Environmental Forum to advance information sharing among industry, regulators, Indigenous groups, the fishing industry and others.
- Increased engagement with the fishing industry, including holding an oil spill communications tabletop exercise; learnings from the session were applied to enhance communications.
- Produced a series of eight videos focusing on research related to offshore emissions reduction opportunities.
- Conducted a survey of the NL offshore workforce to better understand safety perceptions, and developed a plan to implement recommendations arising from the survey.
- Successfully planned and co-hosted a Spill Prevention and Response Forum to improve understanding of spill prevention and response, as well as research and new technology in the area.
- Developed a safety-sharing portal to encourage sharing of offshore safety related information. Produced six safety moment videos to provide easy-to access content members and their contractors can use to enhance the sharing of safety-related information.
“Our members have done a lot of good work in the past three years,” says Paul Barnes, Director, Atlantic Canada & Arctic at CAPP. “Most importantly, we’ve put a focus on working together collaboratively on continuous improvement. With the next phase of this initiative, we’re excited to take on some new projects and focus areas that will further enhance safety and environmental sustainability of the offshore.”
The group has outlined objectives for the coming three years. Some of the key objectives for the next phase of the initiative include:
- Enhance safety and environmental protection through the transition to performance-based regulations, including leadership in developing common approaches to managing risk and information sharing.
- Collaborate to evolve industry’s collective understanding of current and future oil and gas industry workforce recruitment and retention challenges.
- Mitigate potential impacts of oil and gas activity through effective communication with other ocean users and through enhanced spill prevention and preparedness.
- Support industry and stakeholder collaboration and education related to emission-reduction efforts to enhance communications and support governments in achieving net-zero goals.
In addition to the objectives and focus areas outlined in this plan, individual operators each have their
own comprehensive health and safety management systems. These systems incorporate all policies and programs related to safety and environmental protection into their business processes and continuously identify opportunities for improvement. Learn more.
