Keeping Teams Safe Everyday: Employee and Contractor Safety at Enbridge
Originally published in Enbridge's 2022 Sustainability Report
Keeping teams safe through every day
Our mission is fueling quality of life, and operating safely is essential to that work. It’s our duty to keep the public, the members of our team and the environment safe. Safety is one of Enbridge’s four core values, and performance metrics related to safety are tied to each Enbridge employee’s incentive compensation.
2022 highlights
In 2022 our performance was on par with the record-setting result in 2021, contributing to a 23% improvement in employee and contractor injuries over a three-year average, and moving us closer to our goal of zero injuries. This year, we streamlined and simplified our safety training tools and systems, with the goal of making them even clearer and more effective. Both our safety management and our environment programs underwent review and improvement. We also implemented a Supplier and Contractor Safety Management Specification to streamline and improve our processes for contractor selection, and spent more time in the field verifying the effectiveness of our contractor management processes. We also continue to shift our safety learning culture toward on-the-job and apprenticeshipbased qualifications. We believe these experiential approaches are important complements to traditional course-based learning, supporting knowledge retention and mobilization.
We also revised our incident investigation approach, making it even more thorough—and intensifying our focus on prevention by devoting increased attention to studying potential events, or near misses. We share and discuss incident (and near-incident) case studies, highlighting all the factors that played a role in the events, including human factors that can contribute to elevated risks even when everyone believes they’re being safe.
To reinforce and model Enbridge’s commitment to worker and contractor safety, we made special efforts in 2022 to have leaders present and visible in the field and at project sites. After two years during which COVID-19 restrictions limited our ability to be physically present in many contexts, we were determined to emphasize leadership visibility—demonstrating in tangible ways that safety is the top priority at every level of our organization. This practice had benefits in both directions: leaders were able to identify new opportunities for learning and for further enhancing safety practices, while staff were reassured by seeing engaged, safety-focused leaders on the ground.
As we pursue growth across our business, we also work to ensure that strong safety and reliability practices are integrated and scaled with every step we take. We’ve begun to embed safety and reliability requirements into our contracts, ensuring that new ownership and operating agreements express clear expectations in keeping with the rigorous standards we apply to existing assets and processes. Safety and reliability are also integrated into our due diligence processes for acquisitions and joint ventures. Whenever we consider a potential new investment, we carry out dedicated analysis to ensure that it meets or can be enhanced to meet our safety standards.
Our ESG goals
10% improvement in employee and contractor injuries over three-year average
Over 23% improvement in both employee and contractor TRIF over three-year average
Learn more Management approach: Health and safety
After record-setting safety performance the previous year, Enbridge maintained this strong safety standard in 2022, remaining at record lows. For additional safety metrics and performance, see our 2022 ESG Datasheet.
Enbridge’s six safety principles
- All injuries, incidents and occupational illnesses can be prevented.
- All operating exposures can be controlled.
- Leaders are accountable for safety performance.
- All employees and contractors are responsible for safety.
- Assessment and improvement are a must.
- We promote off-the-job health and safety for our employees 24/7.
[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) benchmarks lag a year based on industry data availability
