In this month’s blog we take a look at a very important but often not spoken about part of gas and/or oil exploration, safety. It is fair to say that safety and health are usually the top priorities for any company undertaking gas and/or oil exploration. Protecting and maintaining the environment usually receives just as much importance. Companies will often strive to be role models for environment protection and if isn’t uncommon for them to be part of groups responsible for being health and safety activists.

In order for companies to be committed to health and safety they must ensure that all of their personnel have received professional training. They should ensure that any training is completed according to regulations and forms part of each employees performance development. Most companies will employ a dedicated health and safety management program which complies with any local and federal regulations.

Whilst not to be considered a comprehensive list, the following is a list of items which most companies would undertake to guide and support their activities:

Work in co-operation with local, state and federal regulatory agencies.

Form a bond with local communities to ensure any public concerns are being addressed.

Ensure each and every employee has undergone necessary training and completes any required certifications before being allowed to work in the field.

Ensure that Health, Safety and Environmental performance is regularly monitored, measured, verified and if necessary, improved.

Work hard to identify any potential environment impacts as a result of survey work and be sure to minimize operational footprints as much as possible. Aim to be ‘invisible’ to the environment.

Ensure that employees have ready access to any tools they require to perform their jobs well and in a safe manner.

Regularly identify services or activities that could benefit from continual service improvement.

If you would like some further reading, whilst related almost entirely to offshore exploration, here is a great webpage for understanding legislation and regulations: /energy/offshore-oil-gas/5837

Some other links you may like include:

Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act (COGOA)

Canada Petroleum Resources Act (CPRA)