When Braid Industrial Services’ two Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) Horizon projects wrap up at the end of June, the company will have delivered more than 1.3 million man hours (200,000 man hours on the Sulphur Recovery project and a forecasted 1.1 million man hours on the Primary Upgrading project) – without a single Lost Time Accident (LTA).

With both projects nearing completion, Braid’s management team would like to acknowledge everyone’s contribution to the zero LTA record. “To date, not one employee has suffered a LTA on any of the projects on the CNRL site, and as a company, Braid has not suffered a LTA since its inception in 2005,” says Braid’s President, Murray Leimert.

This is a remarkable safety record. But for Braid, which began work on the Sulphur Recovery and Primary Upgrader projects in May 2006, safety is no accident. “The building blocks for the safety record are the establishment of a solid Health, Safety & Environment (H,S&E) program, the commitment of management and field supervisors and a trained workforce. The cornerstone of the program is the personal responsibility for everyone to work safely and commit themselves to ensuring everyone goes home without an injury,” Leimert says.

Braid’s approach to safety is all-encompassing. The company has dedicated safety advisors at each site who hold daily safety meetings and make regular safety-related presentations to all staff. “We also have behaviour-based safety programs to help our employees monitor their work actions and make sure we’re following best practices in all aspects of the job,” Leimert says. “Safety is a mindset. It’s absolutely not acceptable to have any form of injury.”

The Field Level Risk Assessment is a safety program that Braid has been practicing since beginning work at the CNRL site. Employees use a tri-fold card to describe a task they are about to start. They identify the potential hazards associated with that task and the controls they will use to mitigate the hazards. “We’ve had strong cooperation between all the different levels at Braid, from management to supervisors to the field employees,” says Braid H,S&E Manager, David Makepeace. “Everyone has adopted the program. Now, employees automatically make safety a part of every task. The program has been successful because it’s one of those few opportunities to have the people that are actually doing the work, identify and assess the hazards.”

Makepeace also praises the expertise of Braid’s safety advisory team. “They do a really good job advising and making sure the program is carried out properly. They make good use of employee feedback and suggestions on safety,” he adds. “We try to find solutions to challenges by taking new ideas and putting them into action.”