Pipeline safety typically refers to the potential threat, or lack thereof, posed by an existing or proposed oil or natural gas pipeline to the surrounding population and environment. As pipeline plans have increased so has the level of focus on pipeline safety, with the occasional high-profile safety lapse only intensifying the scrutiny.
Another by-product of the increase in pipeline construction, however, has been an increase in demand for qualified labor to build and maintain the proposed lines. This brings with it concerns regarding another form of pipeline safety: the well being of the laborers themselves.
A report issued earlier this month by Canada’s National Energy Board states that although pipelines are still operating safely, a spike in pipeline workplace injuries is cause for concern.
The NEB’s annual “Focus on Safety and Environment: A Comparative Analysis of Pipeline Performance 2000-2006” notes that for the fourth consecutive year there were no ruptures on NEB-regulated pipelines, and for the ninth year in a row, there were no fatalities on NEB-regulated pipelines. During 1991-2002 roughly 2.5 NEB-regulated pipelines ruptured per year. The Board ascribes the improvement to compulsory integrity management programs that took effect in 1999.
At the same time, however, the rate of injuries suffered by pipeline workers more than doubled during 2005-06, according to the report, moving to 1.5 injuries/100 fulltime equivalent workers worked from 0.7 injuries/100 fulltime equivalent workers. The 2006 injury rate was the highest on NEB-regulated pipelines since 2001.
The NEB report pointed to such factors as inadequate training, worker fatigue, and high turnover rates—all factors directly relatable to the current frenetic pace of activity—as possible contributors to the jump in pipeline worker injuries, and it declared the need for increased vigilance on the Board’s part through inspections and audits in addressing the situation.
Recent anecdotal evidence in the US, including at least four worker fatalities, is consistent with the tone and concerns of the NEB report:
- In September 2007, an employee of Precision Pipeline working on the Millennium Pipeline 30 miles north of New York City was killed when the heavy machinery he was operating to lift pipe joints rolled over him after he was thrown from the enclosed cab.
- In November 2007, an unexpected release and fire on Line 3 of Enbridge Energy Partners’ Lakehead System proved fatal to two Enbridge employees working on the line during planned maintenance near the company’s Clearbrook, Minn., terminal.
- In February 2008, an employee of Bechtel Corp. subsidiary Welded Construction of Perrysburg, Ohio, was crushed and killed when the heavy machinery he was operating overturned as he was moving a concrete weight used to stabilize pipelines in wetlands on an Enbridge project in Wisconsin.
Still safe
Alarming as incidents such as these and the increase in injuries seen in Canada might be, however, both the NEB and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) make the continued relative safety of working in the pipeline industry explicitly clear. NEB cites statistics published by Human Resources and Social Development Canada showing that among federally regulated industries only the banking industry suffered fewer injuries/100 fulltime equivalent workers than the pipeline industry.
A December 2007 BLS Fact Sheet comparing pipeline injuries, illnesses, and fatalities to all other US industries similarly notes that in 2006 the rate of nonfatal injuries and illnesses in pipeline transportation was 2.2/100 full-time workers, one-half the rate for total private industry. The rate of injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work for all private US industry was 127.8 cases/10,000 workers vs. 60/10,000 in the pipeline transportation segment. Median days away from work as a result of injury or illness were higher for pipeline workers, 25 days vs. 7, according to BLS figures. This is consistent with the scale of the overall endeavor.
These statistics and others like them make it clear that pipeline operators and contractors continue to do a very good job maintaining a safe workplace. The recent upturn in Canadian pipeline worker injuries reported by the NEB, however, should serve to warn that there is a need to redouble efforts during this time of spectacular pipeline growth.