Page 10 - Suncor 360 - May-June 2015

OIL SANDS SAFETY STEP CHANGE TASK FORCE
In May 2014, the Safety Step Change Task Force was formed to lead an assessment of unacceptable safety performance, and recommend a path forward to improve safety at Oil Sands.
So, one year later, how are things looking?
As with any initiative, the background work to determine the reasons ‘why’ took up a good portion of the first six months. To get to the root cause of the safety issues on site, task force representatives conducted a comprehensive investigation of the safety concerns raised by employees and contractors. While many themes emerged, safety leadership and safety communications came to the forefront.
“We know one thing for certain, and that is leaders at Oil Sands are the catalyst for the change needed in our safety performance and culture,” says Doreen Cole, SVP maintenance and reliability. “Leaders are the conduit for most of the information their teams receive and are key for the task force solutions to fall into place.”
And this is starting to happen. Shifting an organization’s culture can take years but even in these first 12 months, pockets of success are emerging, and the approach to safety is starting to improve.
Jarvis Peake, shift supervisor, Millennium extraction E&I, was involved with the task force during Phase 1 and 2. When he returned to his regular job, he took his learnings and implemented a more robust safety meeting process with his team.
“It is very easy to believe the way you interacted with your team was right because that is the way it was always done,” says Jarvis. “After learning the problem areas, I did a complete overhaul of how
I would facilitate my safety meetings. Now they know that there is a plan to address the safety concerns they bring up in my area and an accountability of what our team will do to solve safety issues.”
However, leaders are not alone in moving these safety solutions forward. In early 2015, the Unifor executive, in partnership with the Safety Task Force Steering Team, held four sessions in Fort McMurray to gain alignment and commitment, and build awareness of goals and initiatives across all operations to ensure a common understanding of deliverables.
Kim Conway, safety chairperson, Unifor Local 707A is optimistic that the task force is moving in the right direction. “Just about every area has seen some sort of improvement due to one or more of the task force initiatives, including communication and front-line leader visibility. During the Unifor leader alignment sessions, we did identify some gaps that we will continue to work through together in the coming months to reach our 2015 safety goals.”
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Want to learn more about what the Safety Step Change Task Force has in store for 2015? Visit the May 360 Online extras on the Core.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS AT OIL SANDS
• Safety task force goals embedded in 2015 performance goal plans
• Safety Communications Repository on the Core
• Safety meeting action tracking developed
• Defined communication process for contractor- critical information
• Area-specific hazard lists created for safety meetings and
hazard assessments
• Standardized communication process for major incidents
• Load levelling of operating procedure due dates
• Launch of cross functional team pages on the Core
• Revised procedure for corrective actions
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