CAPP update

Energy association leaders commit to improving safety performance

Canada’s oil and gas industry trade associations sign Statement of Commitment toward advancing safety culture and leadership.

Canada’s oil and gas industry trade associations have signed a Statement of Commitment to accelerate their efforts to eliminate worker-related injuries or incidents.

“As an industry, our goal is to achieve a zero incident or injury rate. We have made great progress, but there is more that can be done,” said Enform president and CEO Cameron MacGillivray in a news release. Enform is the safety association for Canada’s upstream oil and natural gas industry and helped spearhead the initiative.

The statement recognizes that creating and advancing a safety culture and effective safety leadership are critical to further improving industry’s safety performance. It acknowledges the value of employers in the energy industry working together and sharing resources and knowledge to protect their workers and the communities where the industry operates.

The statement also focuses the industry on emerging safety issues and concerns. For example, employers and workers are concerned about how marijuana legalization could affect the workplace, especially in safety-sensitive areas.

“We’re not for or against the legalization of marijuana,” says Mark Salkeld, president and CEO of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada. “We just want answers to what we think are fundamental questions that affect safety. We want to understand what controls are being put in place, such as defined limits measured with tools like the breathalyzer for alcohol, and what duty of care obligations employers will have for ensuring a safe work place.”

MacGillivray notes, “Over the last few years, we have seen this industry successfully navigate unique challenges, including; volatile markets, ongoing industry consolidations, the Fort McMurray wildfire, expanding and contracting workforces and new technologies and regulations. And, we want to see that kind of success continue.”

Association presidents

The signatories to the document include (from left to right): Gary Leach, President, Explorers and Producers Association of Canada (EPAC); Jim Donihee Chief Operating Officer, Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA); Mark Scholz, President, Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC); Tim McMillan, President and CEO, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP); Mark Salkeld, President and CEO, Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC); Cameron MacGillivray, President and CEO of Enform. Absent from the photo but also a signatory: Mike Doyle, President, Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors (CAGC).