New safety requirements will strain training centers in western Canada

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta- Although safety is a number one priority in the global oil and gas industry,  incident rates have been steadily climbing over the past few years.  A new set of proposed safety courses are set to become mandatory on all field sites in British Columbia and Alberta this summer in an attempt to offset that worrying trend.

A number of training courses have been designed, tested, and vetted by industry to this point, but only 17 made it through the trial period and will become part of a 7 week mandatory training session prior to any work or visits to a field area. The new training certificates will layer on top of the currently required First Aid, H2S, and CPR tickets. A list compiled by Georgetta Clomfoog at the Premier’s office gave us a quick glimpse of the course titles, however the course material is still being developed and cannot be released.  The 17 courses are as follows.

• Look Both Ways!
• Type Safely, Keyboards Can Pinch.
• Pencils and the Dangers of Writing With Lead.
• Coffee is HOT!
• Bend at the Knees, not Get on Your Knees.
• Sniff Before you Chew: The Dangers of Week Old Leftovers.
• Staples can Hurt:  Swingline Sponsored Safety Protocols.
• Wash Before You Pee.
• Wash After You Pee.
• Screwdrivers Aren’t Toys!
• Wash After You Poop.
• A 2 Man Job is Every Job.
• Hazard Identification in Workplace Bathrooms.
• Microwave ovens can make things hot!
• Knives Are Sharp, Be Careful.
• 5 Hidden Dangers of Your Desk.  Avoiding Drawer Related Injuries.
• Distracted Drilling:  Pay Attention to The Brake Idiot!

Mandee Kenner-Stutziani, the manager and project lead for development of the course curriculum says that most of the industry has clamored for such training, from roughnecks to CEO’s.

We get a request for this type of training all the time.   At least 2 or 3 times a month we get frantic calls from someone who just didn’t get the proper training to avoid an incident, then they come to us and ask for help.  We can’t just keep avoiding the facts that 3 out of 1500 workers in this industry get hurt each year with incidents that we can avoid with simple, simple training.

Although the project has been met with some resistance in the form of laughter and a few get-the-hell-outa-here comments, it has gained significant traction and Premier Redford of Alberta is behind it 110%, being unofficially quoted as saying:

We think that this type of safety training is just what this infantile industry needs.  They want to play hard ball, I’ll show them who has hard balls!

The courses roll out June 28th and it is expected that it will not be grandfathered in.  This will mean that all of the nearly 400,000 employees who work in, contract to, or visit any field sites in Western Canada will need to be retroactively offered the 7 week program.  *Yikes*