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WorkSafeBC welcomes Enform as the health and safety association for the B.C. upstream petroleum industry
Resources
- Backgrounder: B.C.'s Petroleum Industry, 2001-2005 (PDF 56kb)
- Backgrounder: Enform FAQs (PDF 36kb)
- Fact Sheet: Petroleum Industry, 2001-2005 (PDF 44kb)
- Notice of Incidents (PDF 46kb)
- WorkSafe Bulletin: Confined Spaces — Deadly Spaces (PDF 83kb)
Fort St. John, B.C., March 28, 2007 — WorkSafeBC is pleased to announce that Enform, an organization that has been responsible for oil and gas training, certification, and safety services, is now adding health and safety initiatives in B.C. to its mandate.
Both WorkSafeBC and Enform share the vision of safe and healthy environments in all petroleum industry workplaces in British Columbia. Achieving this goal demands high quality training and safety services, and a critical mass of resources on an ongoing basis.
WorkSafeBC has long promoted industry safety associations, which are effective in educating employers, training workers, and generally raising awareness of industry-specific safety issues. It is anticipated that Enform will help WorkSafeBC further reduce injuries and incidents in the oil and gas sector, and promote injured workers' safe and prompt return to work.
The petroleum industry injury rate has remained lower than the overall B.C. rate. Between 2001 and 2005, its average injury rate was 1.6 short term disability injuries per 100-person years of employment compared to the provincial average of 3.2.
In those five years, WorkSafeBC accepted 1,464 claims, which cost employers approximately $56 million and 119,500 productive work days. On average, an injured worker was off the job for about 99 days, close to twice the provincial average.
“Having a health and safety association for oil and gas in B.C. just makes sense,” said Diana Miles, WorkSafeBC Vice-President of Worker and Employer Services. “Enform knows the industry and is well positioned to address the health and safety needs and services in this industry. We look forward to working with them.”
Enform will seek to expand on the services currently available, including initiatives and programs that address industry health and safety issues, enhancing safety training capability, and establishing a health and safety resource centre in Fort St. John. This will expand the province's infrastructure to ensure that an informed and well trained workforce has a strong focus on safety.
Wally Baer, incoming CEO of Enform, said, “B.C.'s oil and gas industry needs as many workers as it can get. Keeping them healthy and safe on-the-job means they need the best training we can possibly offer. That is what we intend to do.”
The operations of the safety association will be directed by the Board of Directors of Enform, which represents the six petroleum industry trade associations: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC), Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors (CAGC), Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC), Small Explorers & Producers Association of Canada (SEPAC) and Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA).
Serving nearly 2.2 million workers and about 188,000 employers, WorkSafeBC is a provincial statutory agency governed by a Board of Directors and funded by employers. WorkSafeBC was born out of a compromise between B.C.'s workers and employers in 1917 where workers gave up the right to sue their employers or fellow workers for injuries on the job in return for a no-fault insurance program fully paid for by employers. WorkSafeBC is committed to a safe and healthy workplace and to providing return-to-work rehabilitation and legislated compensation benefits to workers injured as a result of their employment.
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For more information please contact: |
| Gladys Johnsen
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