Enbridge has history of labor and safety problems

Enbridge’s labor and safety practices are drawing scrutiny after a Michigan Messenger investigation found undocumented workers toiling nearly 100 hours per week in unsafe conditions at the oil spill cleanup site along the Kalamazoo River. A look at the company’s record reveals a pattern of problems with worker safety including multiple worker deaths in recent years.

This summer the Dept. of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Enbridge for “willful” and “serious” violations after a chemical release at a company natural gas processing plant in Texas resulted in the death of a worker. According to OSHA one employee died and another was left in critical condition on Jan. 10 when hydrogen sulfide was released as workers replaced a faulty valve on a waste heat boiler in the sulfur plant.

Federal officials say Enbridge failed to develop and implement safe work practices for workers exposed to hydrogen sulfide and failed to provide the workers with respirators — required personal protection equipment.

These violations were committed, they said “with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health.”

OSHA also cited Enbridge for failing to review current operating procedures, failing to inform contract workers of the known potential fire, explosion or toxic release hazards related their work and not requiring the use of necessary flame resistant clothing.

The agency assessed $152,100 in fines for these violations.

In August the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline Hazardous Materials Administration fined Enbridge $2.4 million for safety violations involving worker safety and failure to conduct required monitoring and maintenance.

DOT officials said that two Enbridge workers died in a crude oil explosion in Clearbrook, Minnesota as they worked to make repairs on the Lakehead pipeline, and they cited Enbridge for failing to safely and adequately perform maintenance and repair activities, clear the designated work area from possible sources of ignition, and hire properly trained and qualified workers.

The agency also ordered Enbridge to revise and implement certain pipeline maintenance and repair procedures and to train and requalify its employees.

While work seems dangerous for Enbridge employees — overall, from 2004-2008, 395 injuries were recorded by Enbridge and then reported to management according to the Canadian environmental group the Polaris Institute — actual statistics are probably much higher because 80 percent of Enbridge workers are non-union and have little protection against discrimination if they report a problem.

“Officially, Enbridge provides on the job health and safety training as mandated by federal and provincial jurisdictions, and has established health and safety committees at each site,” Polaris writes. “However, the only collective agreement negotiated with the company to include specific provisions regarding proactive health and safety precautions, training and remedial action is between Enbridge Gas Distribution and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union in Ontario.”

Subcontractors have very little protection on the job

Many workers involved in direct cleanup of the Cold Lake crude spilled by Enbridge in the Kalamazoo River system, for example, were hired by subcontractors who were required only to provide on site lectures about hazardous substances and personal protection gear.

Under Michigan regulations all employers at a multi-employer job sites share responsibility for ensuring that proper safety ruled are followed, according to Michael T. Mason, safety and health manager for the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

At a complex job site, however, it can be difficult for regulators to ensure that adequate training and safety measures are provided.

“For this hazard, cleaning up crude oil, there is not much paperwork required,“ Mason said.

MIOSHA inspectors, present at the Enbridge oil spill cleanup site on a daily basis, conducted “walkarounds” of the job site and asked workers if they had been trained, he said.

“We can tell by interviews and by watching them we can tell if they have been trained.”

Mason acknowledged that direct observation can be difficult at a 25 mile long job site such as the cleanup area along the Kalamazoo River.

Enbridge is the largest shipper of Canadian crude to the US and is in the process of expanding its pipeline network and US operations.