National Energy Board

www.neb-one.gc.ca

Common menu bar

• Français
• Home
• Contact Us
• Help
• Search
• canada.gc.ca

Breadcrumb

Closing Remarks - NEB Forum 2009

Presented by
Sheila Leggett
Vice-Chair
National Energy Board

Closing Remarks
NEB Forum 2009
Calgary, Alberta

28 May 2009

I would like to start and finish my brief remarks with my key message. Thank you! Thank you to all participants of this Forum for your engaged participation. The NEB has had the opportunity to benefit from the dialogue and to share with you our current thoughts and approaches.

This forum is an important vehicle for discussion from an NEB perspective. We wanted to provide a venue for discussions on NEB regulatory activities and approaches to ensure we are in touch with all stakeholders. Over the past couple of years we have been asked for this opportunity to exchange information. I am pleased it has come to fruition. I am especially excited about the improved potential for all of us to do our job better. Each of us has a role to play to ensure energy is supplied to Canadians and others in a sustainable manner that is also protective of worker safety, public safety and the environment.

Themes for presentations focused on discussing; regulations, compliance approaches, stakeholder engagement and safety. Protection of worker and public safety are obviously linked in the energy transportation business. All aspects of the NEB mandate are directed to ensuring the public interest is met with a special emphasis on public safety through all life cycle stages of projects.

We heard today about an incident where risks were underestimated and two workers perished. We heard about an incident where a lack of knowledge of local conditions led to a pipeline contact that released oil into a marine environment. In the panel discussion on safety that just concluded, we were asked to think about why we find it so difficult to learn from our mistakes.

Recent safety statistics from Alberta Employment and Immigration show that the category of workers over 45 years old has the highest fatality rate. This is not consistent with what should be happening with continuous learning. One would think older employees would be more knowledgeable, more diligent and less apt to be distracted. Yet, it seems increased age does not necessarily translate to increased safe work practices. Did you know that one-third of the industrial fatalities in Alberta were in motor vehicles? This is not surprising when I hear of an incident reported to the NEB, by a regulated company that an employee drove off a road while not wearing a seatbelt and lost consciousness.

Preventing situations where projects could go terribly wrong will safeguard the public and at the same time safeguard the hard working men and women in this industry who are on the front lines, beside pipes and machinery, that have the potential to cause physical harm through any number of ways.

As I mentioned earlier, clarifying the Board's regulatory approach and processes was high on our agenda for this forum. I hope you now have an appreciation for how goal-oriented regulation works. There is no way to address all aspects of protection in this industry with prescriptive regulations. There also in no appetite for a completely goal-based or self regulated energy transport industry. The solution for high-risk industries has been proven to be a goal-oriented approach that allows for a mix of prescriptive regulations and goal-based regulations. The advantage is the freedom by companies to use multiple risk-reduction techniques under different circumstances so that the greatest protection is provided for the public, employees and the environment.

In the goal-oriented regulation approach, one of the regulators roles is to set out the framework for protection and a role of a company is to develop and deliver protection programs. There have been concerns by industry about NEB evaluations of company programs. This is being taken under advisement keeping in mind again that "What gets measured, gets done".

The release of reports on the Land Matters Consultation Initiative this week provides direction on the role industry needs to play in respecting the rights and interests of stakeholders. The definition of stakeholder includes landowners, First Nations and other regulators. By the same token, stakeholders need to be mindful of respecting the rights-of-way requirements. Crossing violations or unauthorized activities on rights-of-way have increased at an alarming rate over the past two years. Some of this is due to better company reporting, but the trend is of concern and a concerted effort by all parties is needed to prevent serious repercussions.

With regard to compliance tools, you heard that the NEB employs a risk based lifecycle approach to ensure that all phases of a project - from planning to abandonment - are regulated for safety, security and environmental protection. The amount of oversight by the NEB is proportional to a risk assessment of the companies' performance. Good performance means diligence in reporting and low incidences of injuries, environmental releases, ruptures and other significant events.

The companies' role goes beyond merely performing and complying. It means striving for excellence, going above and beyond expectations. This is not easy and it means companies must be synchronized with regulators, and be accountable for their own performance.

No one wants to be in non-compliance but it is recognized that infractions are sometimes due to lapses in diligence and sometimes due to a lack of knowledge of regulations. The NEB is committing to look at ways to further communicate its compliance expectations and to communicating more information on compliance tools.

The NEB is also committed to open dialogue on regulatory change. You heard that the Onshore Pipeline Regulation (OPR) would be opened up for review. Advice will be sought from all stakeholders. At the same time, the NEB will be correcting deficiencies such as the current lack of clarity between the OPR and CSA Z662 regarding the requirements for a management system. The NEB is a strong advocate for management systems to ensure there are structured protection programs. This systematic approach ensures there are no gaps in program delivery across a company. In an inherent high-risk industry this mitigates risk such that we can continue to recognize pipelines to be the safest mode of transportation of energy.

A concerted effort by all of us is required to ensure that readily available training is actually taken. The positive communication approaches we heard from companies working on the Keystone project today are heartening. This needs to be built on. Employees must be challenged to work as safe as they can and then evaluated on their safety performance because the mantra "what gets measured, gets done" applies to safety performance as well.

Training courses are important but so is day-to-day reinforcement of personal responsibility for safety. One of the greatest threats to safety that we must all guard against is complacency. Often it evolves where no incidents occur, and gradually more risk creeps into a job. It can become endemic if supervision does not make an effort to check and correct behavior. So as is often said in the law enforcement field - "Let's be careful out there".

I n Appreciation

I hope you gained insight into the NEB's programs and that it helps you do your jobs better and understand how you can be affected by regulated activities. We appreciated your feedback during the event and would like to hear how future forums can meet your needs. A feedback form is provided and we strongly encourage you to respond. One of the questions will be the frequency of these opportunities for information exchanges - four years was too long.

I would like to conclude this Forum with a thank you to all of you for attending and participating in meaningful dialogue on how each of us can take up the challenge to continuously improve safety, security and environmental outcomes in every part of the work we do. I especially want to thank the speakers, several of whom joined us from industry and from other regulatory agencies. I know they took time out of their busy schedules because they believe in the power of communication and the need to share experiences and knowledge.

A thank you is also extended to CEPA for providing refreshments at the breaks and yesterday's lunch. This eliminated the need for a registration fee. CEPA continues to be an important window to the industry for the NEB. We recognize that more communication is necessary and look to CEPA for opportunities to discuss our messages, our approaches and our initiatives in a consultative setting.

I wish those of you from out-of-town a safe journey home, and I wish all of you productive and rewarding experiences until we meet again.

Primary navigation (left column)

Date Modified:

2011-10-28