Sustainability

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Keeping our communities safe

Our commitment to safe, reliable operations

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Safety leadership is fundamental to our business and a key driver in keeping our workforce safe and healthy. We’re relentless in our pursuit of safety so every employee and contractor goes home from work each day the way they arrived. We’ll never stop working toward our goal of Nobody Gets Hurt.

The same safety mindset goes for our commitment to our neighbours and the communities where we operate. In the unlikely event of an emergency, our operating sites and facilities have well-defined plans, trained personnel and access to equipment to respond immediately to any incident. 

Being prepared is critical, so we conduct many simulated emergencies each year to ensure a constant state of readiness and emergency response capability. These range from fire drills and equipment and personnel tests at local operating sites, to computer-simulation exercises, and full-scale emergency simulations lasting two to three days. We often engage with neighbours and other key stakeholders in these drills and simulations.

Our prevention and safety measures

Imperial has well-established prevention and safety measures in place to protect the public in the unlikely event of an incident at one our sites or facilities. These include but are not limited to:

  • An Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS) that helps us mitigate risks associated with our operations, our people and the environment
  • A behavioural-based safety program to keep our workforce safe
  • Equipment maintenance procedures and training for personnel
  • Ongoing risk evaluation associated with the products we manufacture, use and dispose of
  • Ongoing training for all operations and maintenance personnel, which includes safe start-up, shutdown, emergency and other intervention procedures
  • A quality assurance program for materials
  • A network of high-technology surveillance and control instruments
  • 24-hour monitoring of the process by qualified operators
  • A mechanical integrity program that meets industrial standards
  • 24/7 support for emergency response plans/procedures with regular emergency training, drills and exercises
  • Emergency response teams and equipment in place 24/7
  • Mutual Aid Partnerships with surrounding companies and municipal fire departments
  • On-going dialogue with our neighbours and the surrounding community

Emergency warning system

Each operating site has an emergency warning system consisting of a series of air horn alarms to alert our personnel of potential emergencies at the site. These alarms are tested weekly, usually on the same day and time each week. 

• Nanticoke – Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
• Sarnia – Monday at 12:30 p.m.
• Strathcona – Monday at 12 p.m.

If an incident occurs

In the unlikely event of an incident at one of our sites or facilities, you may notice additional noise, odours, flaring, smoke or fire. The potential effects from an incident may include property damage and personal respiratory or auditory issues.

Each site/facility has a communication process to notify the public in the event of an emergency. These communications will include available information such as:

  • The nature and location of the incident
  • Information and guidance concerning the actions that could be taken by the public to reduce the potential harm to human health and the environment
  • Details regarding any road closures or reduced community access
  • Steps being taken to address the incident

Emergency response guidelines

If an emergency situation occurs at one of our sites/facilities:

  • Stay informed and monitor media and messages from your local authorities
  • Be prepared to take action when advised (e.g. shelter-in-place, evacuation etc.)
  • Follow direction from local authorities until the all clear is given
  • Do not visit our site/facility to see what is going on

After an emergency, depending on the circumstances of the incident, the site/facility will conduct additional public communications regarding next steps as appropriate. These public communications may include:

  • Community letter or meeting
  • Media interviews
  • Website updates
  • Social media updates

Contact us

It’s important to ensure our neighbours are kept up-to-date before, during and after an emergency. If you have specific questions for a site/facility, please contact us:

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We are integrated, which means we do business across all stages in the oil and gas journey. We explore for and produce oil and natural gas and transport it to our refineries, where we make it into products Canadians use every day.