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Safety and Environment Oversight

The NEB sets and enforces regulatory expectations for National Energy Board-regulated companies over the full lifecycle–construction, operation and abandonment–of energy-related activities.

The NEB’s expectations of regulated companies are set out in the acts and regulations relevant to the Boards mandate, as well as through Board directions and orders. Companies must fulfil any commitments they make in their submissions to the NEB, throughout all phases of regulatory oversight.

The NEB holds its regulated companies accountable against these expectations using a rigorous compliance verification and enforcement program, and through enforcement actions. We require regulated companies to anticipate, manage, and mitigate any potential threats to safety and the environment that may occur through the full lifecycle of their facilities.

Performance Results – Safety and Environment Oversight

* REVISED FROM ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18. AS A PART OF ROUTINE REPORTING AND ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES, QUARTERLY AND ANNUAL NUMBERS CAN VARY SLIGHTLY AS COMPANIES OR NEB STAFF ENTER DATA INTO THE SYSTEM.
** % INCREASE OR DECREASE OF INCIDENTS THAT HARM PEOPLE OR THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE 3 YEAR AVERAGE NUMBER OF INCIDENTS CALCULATED LAST YEAR COMPARED TO THE 3 YEAR AVERAGE NUMBER OF INCIDENTS CALCULATED THIS YEAR.
*** %INCREASE OR DECREASE OF UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR.

The NEB targets zero incidents that harm people or the environment on the 73,000 km that we regulate. The NEB takes every incident very seriously.

When activities pose greater harm to people or the environment, we focus attention and increased regulatory oversight through inspections, investigations and audits. Where non-compliances are observed through compliance verification activities (CVAs), the NEB uses enforcement actions to achieve company compliance as quickly and as effectively as possible. This reduces hazards and protects the safety of workers, the public, the environment and property.

The NEB has seen an increase in the number of incidents that harm people and the environment with the total numbers rising from 19 in 2017–18 to 25 in 2018–19. The biggest proportion of the 25 incidents that harm were a total of 12 serious injuries, mainly to construction workers. Similarly, the biggest increase year–over–year was also in serious construction worker injuries, which went from 7 to 12.

The NEB reviews every serious incident and identifies root causes. The learnings inform our inspections and our oversight programs. As a result of reviews of these serious injuries the NEB has increased our oversight of constructions projects and in particular third party contractors.

Under Construction: Worker Safety

The NEB has identified that the majority of serious injury incidents involve third-party contractors. To that end, the NEB conducted pre-construction audits, such as our audit in advance of the Keystone XL Pipeline construction, with a focus on contractor oversight. The NEB undertook compliance and enforcement activities related to serious injuries in addition to following up on every incident. This included inspectors visiting the field to observe firsthand how the companies conduct incident response. Over 2018–19, the NEB conducted 23 field inspections directly related to worker safety, including eight on Enbridge Line 3.

The NEB also has a Serious Injury and Fatality Team that is convened when any serious injury is reported to the NEB. This team consists of a number of safety experts who assess the incident to determine whether the NEB needs to take any immediate actions. We are also reaching out to other industries and regulators to share learnings and approaches that can help reduce serious injuries to workers.

Company Performance

The National Energy Board holds its regulated companies accountable for meeting regulatory requirements and project-specific conditions to prevent incidents and provide for the safety of Canadians and the protection of the environment during the construction, operation and abandonment phases of a project lifecycle.

Damage Prevention: Reducing Potential for Harm

Unauthorized activities (UAs) or “Near misses” are a leading indicator of areas and activities where harm could occur, and tracking them provides the NEB with additional insight on areas of greater risk so that we can take targeted action.

Over 2018–19, the number of UAs reported dropped by just over 16%, from 276 to 231. Assessing each reported UA, and in particular ground disturbances, provides the NEB with valuable information on how to further support safe digging practices.

Driving Company Accountability: Guidelines for Pipeline Financial Requirements

The Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 sets out several guiding principles including “polluter pays”, which protects the public from paying for clean-up of any potential pipeline spill. The NEB enforces the polluter pays principle, requiring all necessary measures to be taken to make the pipeline safe, clean up the spill and remediate the environment, regardless of whether a company is found to be at fault or not.

The Pipeline Safety Act of 2016 amended the NEB Act by introducing a $1 billion absolute liability level to pipeline companies with the capacity to transport greater than 250,000 barrels of oil per day, and requiring such companies to maintain the financial resources equal to their absolute liability level. On June 8, 2018, the Pipeline Financial Requirements Regulations were passed. These regulations set out absolute liability limits for all other NEB regulated pipeline companies.

Management Systems and Industry Performance

The NEB requires companies to have a management system that identifies and controls hazards and risks. We require that they continually evaluate and improve effectiveness of their management systems and implement corrective actions to prevent incidents.

Quality Assurance for Pipelines

In recent years, the NEB became aware of instances where heat treated pipe and fittings with yield strength properties that were lower than specified (and therefore increasing the potential for harm) had been installed on pipeline systems under NEB and other regulatory bodies’ jurisdiction. No reported incidents on NEB-regulated pipelines were attributed to the non-conforming fitting.

Emergency Management

Through its Emergency Management Program, the NEB holds its regulated companies responsible for anticipating, preventing, managing and mitigating conditions during an emergency and for cleaning up and remediating contamination to NEB requirements and expectations.

Managing Emergencies

Pipeline ruptures are rare. On average there have been 0.02 ruptures per 1,000 km of NEB regulated pipeline over the past five years. Of these, five out of a total of six ruptures reported to the NEB were natural gas or natural gas liquids. In all cases, the NEB’s Emergency Management program stands ready to take quick action by deploying staff or standing up its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

In October 2018, a natural gas pipeline operated by Enbridge Pipelines ruptured just outside of Prince George, BC. No injuries were reported, and community members from the nearby Lheidli T’enneh First Nation were evacuated as a precaution.

Regulatory Framework

The NEB regulatory framework applies to all core responsibilities and is comprised of applicable Acts, regulations, guidance materials, documents, as well as certificates, orders and other regulatory instruments used to regulate the industry.

* THE NEB HAS PLANNED TO CONDUCT AN EVALUATION OF THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK PROGRAM OVER 2019-20. THIS PLANNED EVALUATION COINCIDED WITH THE POTENTIAL COMING-INTO-FORCE OF BILL-69, WHICH WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NEB’S REGULATORY FRAMEWORK PROGRAM.