Pipeline Spring 2013

C A N A D A’ S O I L A N D G A S S A F E T Y M A G A Z I N E

PIPELINE

SPRING 2013

BENEATHTHE

SURFACE TAPPING NEW OIL AND GAS RESERVES

HIT-OR-MISS

Random testing pits safety against privacy

RESISTING FLAMES Tackling high-heat hazards

CUSTOM BUILT

Designing eyewashes for remote locations

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| CONTENTS

PIPELINE Vol. 1, No. 1 SPRING 2013

DEPARTMENTS

4 First Impressions EDITORIAL

6

IN THE NEWS

FEATURES

10 Breaking New Ground HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

In spite of criticisms over hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas companies say the process is safe and hazards are no different than those found on other worksites in the industry.

16 Put to the Test RANDOM TESTING

Few topics spark as much debate in the oil patch as random drug and alcohol testing. Arbitrators, tribunals and courts have offered conflicting judgements, with the issue of alcohol testing making its way to the country’s highest court.

PRODUCTS

10

24

20 In a Flash

PROTECTIVE CLOTHING For workers who need protection against both arc flashes and flash fires, flame-resistant gear can answer the call.

24 When Seconds Count EYEWASH STATIONS

Oil and gas worksites in remote locations with little flowing water sometimes require custom-built eyewash stations.

30

FRACKING TEST KITS With hydraulic fracturing comes airborne silica. Test kits that can detect its presence can help bridge the gap between danger and safety.

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PIPELINE SPRING 2013 | 3

EDITORIAL |

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

W

elcome to the inaugural issue of Pipeline, a magazine dedicated to occupational health and safety in Canada’s oil and gas industry. We believe you will enjoy this first issue as it touches upon topics of particular interest in your sector, including random testing, fracking, flash fire and arc protective gear, and eyewash stations. Our second issue of Pipeline will be out in the fall and will focus on the offshore oil and gas industry.

When I first heard last June that several major oil companies and unions in Alberta were going to do the unthinkable — stand in solidarity — to participate in a two-year project on random drug and alcohol testing, I was all for the idea.

With the belief that workplace safety would benefit from the initiative, my enthusiasm remained strong until recently, when I read a court decision following a grievance filed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union. The union had challenged the validity of the random testing policy to be put in place at Suncor Energy whose workers it represents, and an injunction was granted prohibiting the company from implementing random testing at its Athabasca oil sands operation near Fort McMurray until an arbitration ruling.

Had it gone through, the policy would have applied to all union members working in safety-sensitive or “specified positions” — which comprise about 85 per cent of the union’s workforce. With plans to randomly test a minimum of 50 per cent of such employees every calendar year, nearly 1,500 union members would have been affected.

That in itself is not the issue. It’s the fact that only six per cent of employees tested under Suncor’s original drug and alcohol policy from January 2009 until June 30, 2012 tested positive. Does that justify testing the other 94 per cent in the hopes of catching someone impaired?

Granted, proponents argue — and rightly so — that test levels are set at a point that gives workers the benefit of the doubt and there are stringent procedures to ensure a test is reliably fair and accurate.

Jason Contant Editor jcontant@ohscanada.com 4 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

And, if someone tests positive, then they are offered help with their issue — whether it is a lifestyle choice or an addiction, with some companies picking up the tab for a worker’s treatment. In other words, the cloud that is random testing can actually have a silver lining if a worker uses drugs.

Still, it comes back to the question of whether or not there is a need to conduct random testing in the first place. A few months ago, I would have said yes.

There are arguments that drug use is more widespread on these remote oil and gas sites and there is a culture of silence to discourage “ratting out” impaired co-workers. However, the disadvantages — invasion of privacy, the grey area surrounding the definition of “safety-sensitive” positions and the need to take bodily fluid samples — outweigh potential benefits.

Also, is there really a need to throw random testing into the equation when many companies already conduct preemployment and post-incident tests?

Courts, arbitrators and tribunals across the country have disagreed on when and under which circumstances random testing can be conducted, and have overturned each others’ decisions.

The issue was important enough that Canada’s top court heard the issue late last year — albeit only for random alcohol testing — but reserved its decision.

The fact that the Supreme Court has not yet provided legal direction speaks volumes to the complexity and sensitivity of the subject and the need for some clear guidance on what employers can and cannot do when conducting random drug and alcohol testing.

PIPELINE Vol. 1, No. 1 SPRING 2013 EDITOR

EDITOR (OHS CANADA) ASSISTANT EDITOR

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Hazardous substances

JASON CONTANT jcontant@ohscanada.com JEAN LIAN jlian@ohscanada.com GREG BURCHELL gburchell@ohscanada.com SABRINA NANJI snanji@ohscanada.com WILLIAM M. GLENN MARK RYAN

ART DIRECTOR PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER PRODUCTION MANAGER MARKETING SPECIALIST CIRCULATION MANAGER

PHYLLIS WRIGHT GARY WHITE DIMITRY EPELBAUM BARBARA ADELT

badelt@bizinfogroup.ca ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER (OHS CANADA MAGAZINE) PUBLISHER

PRESIDENT, BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP

SHEILA HEMSLEY shemsley@ohscanada.com PETER BOXER pboxer@ohscanada.com BRUCE CREIGHTON

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

DAVID IRETON, Safety Professional, Brampton, Ont. ALLAN JOHNSON, Director of Construction, Hospitality, Oil and Gas, Workers’ Compensation Board of B.C., Vancouver, B.C. JANE LEMKE, Program Manager, OHN Certification Program, Mohawk College, Hamilton, Ont. DON MITCHELL, Safety Consultant, Mississauga, Ont. MICHELE PARENT, National Manager, Risk Management and Health and Wellness, Standard Life, Montreal, Que. TERRY RYAN, Workers’ Compensation and Safety Consultant, TRC Group Inc., Mississauga, Ont. DON SAYERS, Principal Consultant, Don Sayers & Associates, Hanwell, N.B. DAVID SHANE, National Director, Health and Safety, Canada Post Corporation, Ottawa, Ont. HENRY SKJERVEN, President, The Skjerven Cattle Company Ltd., Wynyard, Sask.

PETER STRAHLENDORF, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Health, Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ont. JONATHAN TYSON, Association of Canadian Ergonomists/Association canadienne d’ergonomie, North Bay, Ont.

PIPELINE is the magazine for people who make decisions about health and safety in

Canada’s oil and gas industry. It is designed to keep workers, managers and safety professionals informed on issues in the sector, up to date on new developments and in touch with current thinking in the oh&s community.

WEBSITE: http://www.pipelinecanada.ca INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS contained in this publication have been compiled from sources believed to be reliable and to be representative of the best current opinion on the subject. No warranty, guarantee, nor representation is made

by Business Information Group as to the absolute correctness or sufficiency of any representation contained in this publication.

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Date of issue: SPRING 2013.

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IN THE NEWS | New PPE targets oil and gas sector Edmonton — New safety gear for the oil and gas industry is aiming to make burns caused by blasts of hot steam and scalding water a thing of the past.

In March, University of Alberta assistant professor Megan Strickfaden and a team of graduate students finished the first round of testing on a new garment system consisting of a jacket and pants meant to be worn over top of a pair of coveralls.

The garments feature pant legs that are wide enough that workers can slip them on without having to take their boots off and a fleece lining with venting in the back — where a worker is least likely to be exposed to hot water or steam.

The pants and jacket are made out of a tri-laminate, semi-permeable material, Strickfaden says, letting air pass through but still staying water- and fire-resistant.

“All you need is a pinprick on a roof and you’ll have hot water leaking in and breaking that envelope, so our goal was to try to create a clothing envelope for the workers,” she says.

Four oil sands workers were enlisted to

6 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

Study probes risk of cancer in maintenance work Annandale, NJ — A recent U.S.-based study of Canadian petroleum workers found that although maintenance work may be associated with lung cancer incidence, exposures to specific single agents did not emerge as strong predictors of lung cancer incidence.

The purpose of the study, published in the December 2012 issue of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, was to conduct an in-depth analysis of the potential association between lung cancer, occupational exposures and smoking using data from a Canadian petroleum company. Information on various exposures, including asbestos and petroleum coke dust, was collected via manual and computerized company records.

“These analyses show that lung cancer risk is strongly related to age and smoking, and to a lesser extent, to province of last residence,” the abstract says.

“There is suggestive evidence that maintenance work may also be related to lung cancer risk. Some analyses also indicate that asbestos exposure may be associated with lung cancer risk, although a clear exposure-response trend is not seen,” the abstract says, adding that other exposures, including petroleum coke dust, were not strongly related to lung cancer risk.

The abstract concludes that maintenance work may be a surrogate for general exposures to several agents, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, welding fumes and radiation, although the results may be affected by smoking or other socio-demographic factors.

test out the gear for 14 consecutive weeks of 12-hour days. While the workers found the pants comfortable enough to leave on all day, Strickfaden says she will be addressing

minor issues such as the vibrant orange colour (as opposed to the traditional blue).

The project started when industry representatives reached out to the university

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IN THE NEWS | several years ago asking for a solution to the increasing number of injuries and fatalities caused by hot water and steam. “Industry recognized that the coveralls they were currently wearing were covering them from flash fire and radiant thermal exposure, but because of the porousness and the permeability of the fabrics the coveralls are made of, they aren’t being protected from hot water or steam,” Strickfaden explains.

Textile technologists from the university started developing the product, while Strickfaden and her team visited heavy oil production, extraction and refining sites to understand how the PPE was used and how the burns were caused.

The existing gear does not offer any size variations, becomes stiff in the winter, tears easily and is too small to be slipped on over boots, Strickfaden reports. The gear also leaves a worker’s neck, face, wrist, ankles and lower torso exposed.

The protective clothing will not be ready for production until it is field tested in the summer to ensure it does not cause issues such as heat stroke.

Fire breaks out at Saskatchewan oil refinery Regina — A third fire in less than two years has hit the Federated Co-operatives Limited Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina.

Shortly after midnight on February 11, a fire in a coker unit at the downtown oil refinery blew the tin roof off the building it was housed in and sent a plume of fire about 25 metres into the sky.

Vic Huard, the refinery’s vice-president of corporate affairs, says that the fire was contained and describes it as similar to asphalt burning. It occurred in one of the refinery’s heavy oil units.

There were no injuries and only three contractors working in close proximity to the flames. The refinery’s internal response team was able to extinguish the fire within half an hour.

Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety will be reviewing the local fire department and the employer’s investigation findings to determine if any enforcement action is necessary. For its part, the Regina Fire and Protective Services was expected to release its investigation report in early March, says deputy fire chief Gerard Kay. Huard says that lessons from the incident will be incorporated into the company’s health and safety planning, noting that the fire was unrelated to the previous incident on May 15, 2012. In that incident, a replacement bearing was installed incorrectly, causing it to overheat. The resulting fire caused $7.5 million in damages to a pump, but no injuries. After that incident, the company made the decision to evaluate their training for mechanics installing the bearings.

In October of 2011, an explosion in the refinery’s diesel processing area injured 52 and sent 13 workers to hospital. An investigation found that corrosion caused a gas line to rupture.

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FEATURE | HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

BREAKING

NEW

GROUND

By William M. Glenn

W

ith most of the country’s conventional — and readily accessible — pools of oil and gas already drilled or under development, the extraction industry is turning to unconventional supplies trapped far below the surface in complex shale formations, tight sands or coal beds. Today, more than a dozen high-tech Canadian companies are tapping into these reserves using advanced hydraulic fracturing technologies, more commonly known as “fracking.”

“Our members have been practising hydraulic fracturing in the gas and oil fields of Canada for more than 60 years,” says Mark Salkeld, president and chief executive officer of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) in Calgary. The association represents nearly 250 members in the upstream petroleum industry, including high-pressure pumping companies operating in the hydraulic fracturing sector in Canada. “We are very good at what we do and have become world leaders in developing this technology. A lot of our members are doing their own R&D, and these wells are their laboratories.”

Typically, a well into one of these unconventional “plays” is drilled straight down, up to 3,000 metres deep, before the bit is turned horizontally to cut into the oil- or gas-bearing strata. Once the drilling is completed and the wellbore properly lined and cemented to prevent groundwater contamination, specially-blended hydraulic fluids are pumped under high pressure into the well to fracture the bedrock far below.

A “proppant,” usually sand, is forced into the resulting cracks to keep the fissures open and allow the gas or oil to flow out and back into the well. These hydrocarbons, together with some of the fracturing fluid and any geological saltwater liberated during the operation, are drawn under negative pressure back into the wellbore and up to the surface, notes information from Natural Resources Canada.

Salkeld says made-in-Canada innovations — refinements to the multi-stage fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques used today — are providing “economical access to reserves that were previously out of our reach.”

While fracking technology was used originally to stimulate oil wells, it has been adapted to coax natural gas — “a much more efficient and cleaner fuel,” Salkeld says — out of shale plays. However, when the price for natural gas tanked, PSAC’s members were well-positioned to go after oil again. “Today, some 70 per cent of wells drilled are drilled horizontally,” Salkeld estimates.

AVANT-GARDE Canada’s gas-bearing shale gas beds stretch from the Yukon and Northwest Territories, down through northeastern British Columbia, across Alberta and Saskatchewan, and into southwestern Manitoba. Separate formations can be found in southwestern Ontario, through the St. Lawrence basin and into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While geological mapping continues, the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin appears to contain much of Canada’s proven unconventional reserves and has attracted the greatest interest to date.

Innovative technologies for recovering these resources are being used to safeguard worker health while protecting the environment. “Our company’s liquid petroleum gas (LPG) process is a totally sealed system,” explains Bob Copeland, senior vice-president of GASFRAC Energy Services Inc. in Calgary. “There are absolutely no silica dusts or other emissions released in the well pad area.”

GASFRAC’s proprietary LPG gel fracturing technology employs a mix of liquid propane and butane.

That means no water is used — and no wastewater flowing back after fracturing is complete. The liberated gas, together with the butane and propane, is piped directly to the client’s processing plant, where the LPG components are recovered for reuse.

Before fracturing, GASFRAC positions up to 20 lower exposure limit monitors in the “hot zone” around the well, together with closed circuit and infra-

“

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING | FEATURE

There is no grey area when it comes to safety.

It’s either black or white. red cameras. The company also conducts low-pressure leak tests using inert liquid nitrogen. Once the system is ready, all staff are cleared from the hot zone and the monitoring data is fed back to a dedicated safety trailer where an experienced operator oversees all the pressurized lines and equipment during fracturing.

“We very rarely have a meter going off,” says Copeland, “but if one does, the operation is shut down immediately and everyone is evacuated to a prearranged assembly point off the lease site.” Two firefighters and two foremen are then masked up with hazmat gear and sent back in to investigate.

“We have an extremely firm safety process, whether we are operating in the U.S. or Canada, we employ the same rigorous procedures,” stresses Copeland. “There is no grey area when it comes to safety. It’s either black or white.”

SPRAIN STRAIN Generally speaking, the most common health and safety hazards on a fracking site are the same risks one might expect to see on any oil and gas drilling rig: falls, sprains and strains, pinch injuries, temperature extremes, working long, exhausting hours and traffic accidents.

“Sprains and strains accounted for over 30 per cent of the total number of injuries sustained by our employees in the past 18 months,” says Rod Kuntz, vice-president of health, safety and environment for Calgary-based Calfrac Well Services (CWS). Founded in 1999 to supply fracturing and coiled tube services in western Canada, CWS has since expanded its multistage fracturing operations to unconventional oil and gas plays across North America and around the world.

To mitigate manual handling risks, CWS provides detailed, hands-on manual lifting and handling training for all field employees, using the actual equipment they will be working with on the job. “This is a combination of teaching lifting techniques and providing a biometric/ergonomic understanding of how our employees’ bodies work and how best to perform manual tasks in the safest manner,” says Kuntz.

Prior to each operation, the company also holds multiple job safety analysis sessions with the crews to identify and review all hazards and their respective control and mitigation measures. This year, CWS will complete the redesign and implementation of an integrated health, safety and environment management system. “Part of this implementation will include a complete review [and] technical risk assessments of all work tasks and processes,” says Kuntz. “This will PIPELINE SPRING 2013 | 11

FEATURE | HYDRAULIC FRACTURING enable us to focus efforts and continue to move closer to our goal of zero occupational injuries and illnesses.”

DRIVING FACTOR

While “strained shoulders and backs are considered to be the most likely cause of long-term disabilities, the driving process may well be the most likely risk group to result in a fatality,” says Rod Kuntz, vicepresident of health, safety and environment for Calfrac Well Services in Calgary.

The oil and gas fracking sector employs thousands of trucks of all sizes and descriptions, which travel tens of millions of kilometres every year, often at night and in foul weather. And with dozens of pumpers, fuel trucks and support vehicles on a typical fracking site, traffic safety is always an issue.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) tracked fatalities in the U.S. oil and gas extraction sector from 2003 through 2009 and found that nearly half of all deaths could be attributed to either highway motor vehicle crashes (29 per cent) or workers being struck by tools or equipment (22 per cent). These were followed by explosions (eight per cent), being caught in moving machinery (seven per cent) and falls to lower levels (six per cent).

The statistical trends seem to hold true north of the border. In 2012, four oilfield workers in Alberta died in separate traffic accidents while travelling to or from worksites, accounting for 40 per cent of the fatalities in the sector last year. And in 2010, the oilfield trucking services sub-sector had highest injury rate at 1.55 per 100 person-years worked, more than three-times the overall average for the upstream oil and gas sector in the province.

According to the data from NIOSH, about 60 per cent of vehicle accidents in the sector are single-vehicle incidents — striking stationary objects, roll-overs or jackknife accidents — and 40 per cent are multi-vehicle highway collisions. About half of all fatal accidents involved pickups or delivery trucks and in almost 40 per cent of cases, the worker killed was not wearing a seatbelt.

To address these kinds of risks, Calfrac has implemented a comprehensive driver training and safety program, which includes competency certification on a variety of vehicle types and ongoing refresher training on defensive driving. “We also have a journey management program in place, which requires all supervisors to conduct trip and convoy planning, route selection, fatigue management, vehicle inspections and other measures to minimize the amount of driving and the hazards associated with the trip,” Kuntz says.

12 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

STORM CLOUDS BREWING In addition to the more common strains, sprains and traffic accidents, non-conventional oil and gas operations also present some unique occupational challenges. Clouds of fine dust can exceed workplace standards for crystalline silica, while the air around the drilling pad may be contaminated with toxic air pollutants and carcinogens, including diesel exhaust, benzene, hydrogen sulphide, acid gases, metals, biocides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Hydraulic fracturing can also release radium and other naturally-occurring radioactive materials trapped in the bedrock; fugitive releases of natural gas can pose an explosive fire risk.

In a paper published in the May, 2012 issue of Science of the Total Environment, Dr. Lisa McKenzie and her team from the Colorado School of Public Health monitored the gases released during fracking operations in Garfield County, Colorado, and extrapolated their potential health impacts on downwind residents.

The highest exposures were measured during the flowback period that follows hydraulic fracturing, when the fracking and geologic fluids, liquid hydrocarbons and liberated natural gas are drawn back to the surface, collected and processed. While natural gas is composed primarily of methane, it also contains a rich mix of toxic and oft-times carcinogenic compounds, including benzene and ethylbenzene, xylene, alkanes and other aromatic hydrocarbons.

Add to that the VOC emissions of dozens of trucks, pumps and diesel generators, and contaminant levels immediately downwind of the well pad in the study reached as high as 69 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3) of benzene, 230 μg/m3 of ethylbenzene, 320 μg/m3 of toluene, 880 μg/m3 of xylene, and 2,700 μg/ m3 for various aliphatic hydrocarbons. Although samples were not taken in the workers’ breathing zone, these readings are well within permissible occupational exposure limits.

While Dr. McKenzie says that the results can’t be extrapolated to workers because of differences between residential and worker exposure, short-term exposure to higher levels of these petroleum hydrocarbons can cause headaches and dizziness, irritate the eyes, nose and throat, and trigger asthma symptoms. Chronic exposure can be linked to various forms of leukemia, immunological and neurological effects, anemia and other blood disorders, and impaired lung function, Dr. McKenzie adds.

The short-term health impacts are “driven principally by exposure to trimethylbenzenes, aliphatic hydrocarbons and xylenes, all of which have neurological and/or respiratory effects,” she concludes, while “benzene and ethylbenzene were the primary

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING | FEATURE contributors to [the] cumulative cancer risk.”

Dr. McKenzie recommends that those involved in fracking operations “improve the monitoring of air pollutants during completion and flowback activities, and that they capture and reduce fugitive releases through the use of low- or no-emission flowback tanks.” She also calls for additional exposure studies to better understand the impacts of nonconventional gas development.

SIZING UP SILICA By focusing on environmental exposures, the Colorado research likely underestimates the occupational risks involved. For example, a number of hazardous air pollutants one might expect to find in fracking operations were not measured in the study. These include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, naphthalene, polycyclic hydrocarbons and, perhaps the biggest oversight, particulate matter.

In most cases, hydraulic fracturing relies on large amounts of silica. This sand is trucked onto the site, unloaded and transferred by sand movers or on conveyer belts to hoppers, where it is blended with the hydraulic fracturing fluids and then injected under high pressure into the bore hole. At each stage in the loading or unloading and transfer process, clouds of very fine, respirable crystalline silica can be released into the air.

Chronic exposure to excessive levels of this fine silica dust — or shorter term exposures to extremely high levels — can cause silicosis, an irreversible respiratory condition marked by shortness of breath, coughing, weakness and fatigue. While symptoms can take up to 20 years to fully manifest, higher levels can lead to disablement, respiratory failure and death in a much shorter timeframe, NIOSH reports.

There is also strong evidence that crystalline silica is an occupational lung carcinogen and inhalation can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease and various autoimmune diseases.

In 2010 and 2011, NIOSH conducted extensive air sampling at 11 hydraulic fracturing sites in Arkansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The results shocked most observers. Seventy-nine per cent of the samples exceeded NIOSH’s recommended exposure limit (REL) for crystalline silica, which is set at a 0.05 mg/m3. Almost one-third of samples, collected over the course of a full shift in the employee’s breathing zone, exceeded the NIOSH REL by more than ten-fold. And one sample was 137 times the REL. The occupational exposure limits (OELs) for silica in Canada vary by province, from a high of 0.1 mg/m3 (averaged over an eight-hour workday and 40-hour work week) in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, to 0.05 mg/m3 in Saskatchewan, to a low of 0.025 mg/ m3­­ in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. But even at the lowest OEL, there is an excess risk of silicosis well above that for the general population.

To address the issue of silica exposure, Calfrac Well Services has conducted extensive quantitative air quality studies, improved its respiratory protection program and implemented significant engineering solutions to dramatically reduce the amount of respirable silica present at the work site.

“CWS has also been working for some time on a completely new method of handling sand,” Kuntz reports. “Recent industrial hygiene air monitoring on a site equipped with the new handling system found there was no silica exposure risk on site, eliminating the need for respiratory personal protective equipment (PPE).”

Until these mechanical handling systems become widely available, a lot of older equipment out in the field can be retrofitted. Points where dust may be released can be shrouded or enclosed, unused fill ports on sand movers should be capped, transfer belts may be replaced with screw augers and misting systems can knock down the dust in the air. In addition, operator cabs should be enclosed and equipped with HEPA filtration and air conditioning. A number of companies use alternative proppants, such as sintered bauxite, ceramics or resincoated sand where feasible. And as a last resort, staff can be given the appropriate PPE. “Issues related to worker exposure to quartz silica have been raised by trade associations and in response, we have provided information and guidance on our website on safety procedures,” says Cameron MacGillivray, president and chief executive officer of Enform, the safety association for Canada’s upstream

DANGEROUS MIX January 2013 A worker is guiding a sand truck into location at a gas fracking site when the truck slams into the rig mat, pushing it back and crushing the worker’s leg against the flange on the wellhead.

January 2013 While disassembling a blow out prevention device attached to a wellhead, a young worker is overcome and falls sick following exposure to hydrogen sulphide gas.

January 2013 A worker was attempting to tighten a connector on a high pressure flow line when the hammer union fails, releasing the gas and propelling a block of wood across the site, striking and seriously injuring another employee.

December 2012 A water tanker truck veers off the roadway and into a ditch. The water tank breaks free and crushes the cab, killing the driver.

Source: WorkSafeBC accident reports.

PIPELINE SPRING 2013 | 13

“

FEATURE | HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

Even at the lowest OEL, there is an excess risk of silicosis well above that for the general population. oil and gas sector. “We are also working collaboratively with stakeholders, regulators and other health and safety associations in Canada, as well as the U.S., to develop and disseminate information on the handling of such products,” he says.

Enform has produced a detailed information bulletin that describes various exposure scenarios and recommended controls and PPE for each. It also suggests interim steps that can be taken immediately to minimize employee exposure until engineering and management controls can be developed.

These measures include posting signage and limiting non-essential workers in potential exposure zones, providing the correct certified respirator based on exposure, implementing hygiene practices prior to eating, drinking or leaving the site, and cleaning silicacontaminated trailers and other “enclosed worker congregation areas” using HEPA vacuum or wetbased cleaning methods.

TOXIC FLUSH Silica isn’t the only dangerous compound in fracking fluids. Emma Lui, a water campaigner with The Council of Canadians, a citizen’s organization concerned with clean water and other social and economic issues, says there is a lot of worry over worker exposure to many of the toxic chemicals added to hydraulic fracturing fluids, as well as the wastewaters that are flushed back to the surface following fracking.

“The industry says it is looking for less toxic alternatives, but we know you have to use certain biocides, surfactants, corrosion inhibitors, gelling agents and other chemicals to make the fracking process work,” Lui says. “We don’t know how successful they can be in reducing exposures.”

Lui is also concerned that the federal government’s recent budget bill has dismantled the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission (HMIRC), an arm’s length safety watchdog, which assessed compliance with the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System and ensured that material safety data sheets (MSDSs) were complete and accurate.

“HMRIC played a really important role in educating workers about the safe and proper handling, storage, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials,” Lui says. “In 2011-2012, 90 per cent of the MSDSs the Commission reviewed were not in compliance.”

14 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

REGULATORY ACTION While the federal government offers some general oversight, the primary responsibility for regulating the gas and oil sector lies with the individual provinces and territories. In the face of rising concerns over the environmental impacts of fracking, both the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) in Alberta and the Department of Energy and Mines in New Brunswick are revamping their regulatory regimes for unconventional gas and oil extraction.

The ERCB has released a discussion paper setting out a new performance-based approvals process focused on specific outcomes in public safety, water protection, air quality, waste management, surface impacts [and] resource conservation. At the same time, New Brunswick has developed new rules for the oil and gas sector relating to water quality, wellbore integrity, wastewater management, air emissions, public safety and emergency planning. Both agencies will be soliciting public and stakeholder input in the months ahead.

“Although I’m sure it could be argued that any regulatory change that enhances public safety would, by extension, also enhance worker safety, that is not one of the factors we specifically consider,” says ERCB media spokesperson Bob Curran. In the meantime, Alberta Human Services, which oversees occupational health and safety in the province, is reviewing its silica standard to determine current exposures (both in fracking and other sectors), reported health issues, compliance levels, and any issues with the current legislation and policy that need to be addressed.

The oil and gas sector is also taking responsibility.

To address local opposition to hydraulic fracturing operations, based primarily on purported environmental impacts such as water contamination and air pollution, PSAC announced its “Working Energy Commitment” program. To date, ten of Canada’s largest fracking service providers have signed on, and PSAC president and CEO Mark Salkeld expects the rest to follow shortly.

“We’ve started with an overriding statement of principles — companies must operate safely and responsibly, they must meet or exceed all environmental standards, and so on,” Salkeld says. “Next, we are going to drill down and draft a formal code of conduct.” The code will outline standard practices for sound technical and environmental performance when fracturing a well, as well as define mutual expectations for working with stakeholders,” he adds.

In the months ahead, PSAC will consult with local residents, land owners and elected officials to enhance the transparency in its members’ operations throughout Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and build greater public trust. “In the end, safety is going to be a prime factor in developing the code of conduct,” Salkeld says. “Our ultimate goal is to get everyone home at the end of the shift.” PL

FEATURE | RANDOM TESTING

TEST PUT TO THE

C

“ ”

We accept that absent the continuance of the injunction, the union’s employees would suffer irreparable harm.

16 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

By Jason Contant

oncerns were immediately ignited last June when representatives from major oil sands companies and unions in Alberta announced their participation in a two-year initiative to evaluate and report on the effectiveness of comprehensive drug and alcohol programs, including random testing.

While proponents argue that the end — safety gains and deterrence — justifies the means, critics contend that there is little evidence to suggest that testing improves safety, and it encroaches on privacy and human rights.

The Drug and Alcohol Risk Reduction Pilot Project (DARRPP), announced on June 20, was to establish best practices for random alcohol and drug testing for safety-sensitive worksites. It was also tasked with developing processes related to case management, assessment and follow-up, says a DARRPP statement.

Participating employers, including Suncor Energy Inc., Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Total E&P Canada, were to join hands with safety associations and unions such as the Christian Labour Association of Canada and the Oil Sands Safety Association to introduce and monitor random testing programs, beginning in late 2012 and early 2013.

“What they are trying to do is identify risks before they happen and to minimize the safety issues and the number of people

testing positive at work,” says DARRPP administrator Pat Atkins.

Dan Demers, operations manager of occupational health with CannAmm Occupational Testing Services in North Bay, Ontario, agrees, arguing that employers who introduce such programs are trying to protect their workforce. “They are not on a witch hunt and they want to keep their people but remove the effects of drugs and alcohol from the job.”

INJUNCTION JUNCTION However, a few recent court challenges have left the future of the initiative in question. In a split decision in December, the Court of Appeal of Alberta upheld a decision prohibiting Suncor from implementing the new random alcohol and drug testing policy for employees at its Athabasca oil sands operation near Fort McMurray in northern Alberta.

This injunction is in effect until the receipt of an arbitration decision of a grievance filed by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) challenging the validity of the policy.

Documents from the appeal court show that Suncor’s policy — which was supposed to come into effect on October 15, 2012 — was to impose random drug and alcohol testing on all CEP union members working in safety-sensitive or “specified” positions.

RANDOM TESTING | FEATURE

About 85 per cent of all union members work in such positions and Suncor plans to randomly test a minimum of 50 per cent of such employees every calendar year, or about 1,445 union members annually.

Since the injunction was granted, Suncor has continued to test employees under its pre-existing drug and alcohol testing policy, which allows testing to occur only postincident or in circumstances where it appears that an employee may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“We accept that absent the continuance of the injunction, the union’s employees would suffer irreparable harm.

The non-consensual taking of bodily fluids is a substantial affront to an individual’s privacy rights,” writes appeal court Justice Myra Bielby for the majority, adding that the policy’s application to safetysensitive positions “casts a wide net over employees whose work may not involve a real risk of accident.”

The appeal court reports that only six per cent of employees tested under the original policy from the beginning of January 2009 until June 30, 2012 tested positive. While Justice Bielby argues that Suncor has offered no evidence that the current policy had reduced accident rates during its years of application, Suncor spokesperson Sneh Seetal says that the new drug and alcohol program would improve the safety of its workers.

From 2000 to 2012, investigations into the seven workplace fatalities at the company’s oil sands concluded that three workers were under the influence of either drugs or alcohol at the time of their death, Seetal reports.

“We’re obligated to provide a safe work site for all our employees, contractors and visitors to the site. We’re doing what we feel is necessary to fulfill that commitment,” she says. She adds that Suncor would be enlisting a third party to administer the random tests and the company would pay for an employee’s entire treatment if it was deemed necessary.

Still, Justice Bielby argues that there is no suggestion of immediate peril to favour the more intrusive new policy, pending receipt of arbitration, set to begin in midDecember with no closing date.

“Simply brandishing the concern of [an] accident, or the mention of the word ‘safety,’ even in the context of this mining operation, is not enough to support the conclusion that such balance must favour the immediate implementation of such intrusive testing, on such a large number of Suncor’s employees,” Bielby writes.

Roland Lefort, president of CEP Local 707, which represents workers at Suncor, TransAlta and other employers in Fort McMurray, filed a grievance last summer, arguing that the random testing policy is “unjustifiable, unreasonable, and violates employees’ privacy rights, human dignity and human rights.”

Others, like Bob Barnetson, assistant professor of labour relations at Athabasca University, agree, suggesting that there is little evidence to indicate that testing reduces injury rates. “Drug testing may indirectly improve safety by reducing overall drug use among workers who fear

“

It is not the testing that triggers the protection of

human rights law.

It is the treatment by the employer of employees who are dependent on drugs or alcohol.

”

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FEATURE | RANDOM TESTING

“

In the United States, where drug testing is federally regulated, there are over 140 pages of procedures to ensure that a result is defensible.

”

18 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

workplace repercussions,” he says, arguing that employer decisions can influence drug use. “Would drug use be so widespread in the oil and gas industry if workers weren’t forced to spend two or three or four weeks working 11-hour shifts in isolated work camps?” he questions.

For CEP president Dave Coles, drugs and addiction is a social problem, not a worker problem in northern Alberta.

“Drug addicts aren’t going to be scared into not doing drugs at work because of random testing,” he argues. “You’ll chase them out of one employer into another because the employers have agreed to not create a blacklist,” he contends.

Dr. Barry Kurtzer, an occupational physician and medical director at Ayr, Ontario-based DriverCheck Inc. — the largest provider of random testing services in Canada — says addressing the problem of addiction is only one piece of the puzzle. A worker who has tested positive should be assessed by a substance abuse professional, who will determine if the worker’s substance or alcohol use is an addiction or a lifestyle issue, he notes.

“If you allow for employees to address their lifestyle and health issues related to the use, misuse or abuse of drugs and alcohol so that they could come back into the workplace, then that has been looked upon favourably in many circumstances as a form of accommodation that would satisfy the issues raised under the human rights commissions’ various codes across the country,” Dr. Kurtzer adds.

Indeed, the Alberta Human Rights Commission has indicated that “it is not the testing that triggers the protection of human rights law. It is the treatment by the employer of employees who are dependent on drugs or alcohol.”

While alcohol tests are primarily conducted by a breathalyzer, occupational drug tests often involve collecting urine or oral fluid samples. In order to test positive at the laboratory level, the concentration of the drug metabolite must be at or above a cutoff level set by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, says Demers.

The levels are never set at zero, as passive or unintentional exposure may occur and not pose a risk to safety. “They are all set at

a point that is very much in favour of providing the benefit of the doubt to the employee,” he says.

However, there is a trade-off. Cut-off levels have to be established at a point where windows of detection of use are shortened, possibly missing those who used the substance days ago or on a chronic basis.

Take oral fluid testing as an example. If an employee tests positive for tetrahydrocannabinol — the principal psychoactive constituent in marijuana — where the positive test confirmation level is set at 10 nanograms per millilitre, that means the individual is considered to have likely used marijuana within the four-hour time period prior to the test.

RELIABLY ACCURATE For an employer to take action on a test result, it needs to be reliable — meaning the test must be forensic or legally defensible.

And establishing legal defensibility is no small task. “In the United States, where drug testing is federally regulated, there are over 140 pages of procedures to ensure that a result is defensible,” Demers reports.

The issue of random alcohol testing made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada in December after CEP filed a grievance in relation to a worker at the Irving Pulp and Paper mill in Saint John, New Brunswick tested negative for alcohol consumption. A labour arbitration board initially sided with the union, noting the testing program could not be justified in a workplace with no demonstrated issue with intoxication.

The Supreme Court heard the case on December 7, but reserved its judgement.

While the future of DARRPP remains uncertain, other random testing programs have already been considered or implemented. In October of 2011, the Toronto Transit Commission approved the development of a random testing policy and implementation program. And last year, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission proposed a fitness-for-duty policy that would subject employees with unescorted access to protected areas of a nuclear plant to random drug and alcohol testing. PL — With files from Sabrina Nanji.

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PRODUCTS | PROTECTIVE CLOTHING

In A

Flash W

By Jason Contant

orkers who toil away in Canada’s oil patch can sometimes be at a double disadvantage. Not only is there the potential for an arc flash — an explosion that can generate temperatures in excess of 19,000 degrees Celsius — but there is also the possibility of a sudden, intense and fast-moving blaze known as a flash fire.

Arc flash explosions “occur when an electrical current short circuits through the air and ionizes to form superheated plasma,” explains Chris Ransome, president of Ranpro Inc. in Simcoe, Ontario. These explosions can generate temperatures exceeding 2,760 C and have been known to reach as high as 19,425 C in thousandths of a second, he reports, noting that the potential for harm clearly demonstrates the need to be prepared, since there is no warning time to suit up.

Michael Batson, global flame resistance (FR) business manager for Polartec in Lawrence, Massachusetts, describes an arc flash as a blast that vapourizes all metal conductors in the equipment and creates plasma, which expands outward with extreme force.

“Any clothing that you’re wearing, if it is not [flame resistant], it is going to ignite,” Batson cautions. “When you are on fire, for however long it takes you to get your garments extinguished, that’s when a lot of the burning actually happens.”

While arc flashes can occur at oil and gas facilities, pipeline maintenance operations, refineries and drilling sites, workers can also face another highheat hazard: flash fire, says Andrew Wirts, sales and marketing director for NASCO Industries in Greenwood, Indiana. He notes that these hydrocarbon fires typically last less than three seconds.

The main difference between arc flash- and flash fire-resistant garments is the degree of incident energy exposure they can withstand. Because flash fires involve a longer exposure time at a lower temperature, Ransome points out that they require a garment with a different type of flame resistance than those certified against arc flash fires.

Regardless of whether a worker is looking to protect against arc flash or flash fire, the type of fibre is a key consideration when choosing a garment.

Fibres such as cotton can be treated with an FR coating, Batson reports, but he cautions that resistance can be washed out if not properly treated or if bleach and other chemicals are used during washing.

The other option would be inherently FR fabrics, where flame-resistant properties cannot be either worn out or washed out. Relatively new to the market, these fabrics include aramids, modacrylics, FR rayon, carbonized fibres and blends.

The last choice is a combination of three or four different inherently FR fibres, Batson says, noting that the resulting mix can offer decent flame-resistant performance, garment durability and comfort by wicking moisture and keeping the wearer cool. This differs from FR cotton, which “will just become

20 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

PROTECTIVE CLOTHING | PRODUCTS saturated with your perspiration and you just aren’t comfortable on a hot summer day,” he adds.

At Milliken & Company in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the company combines DuPont’s Nomex brand fibre — an aramid that will not melt, drip or burn when exposed to heat or flame — with its own Nomex CXP fabric to provide protection against fire and electric arc flash, notes a product sheet from the company. The result is a lightweight, soft and breathable product that provides improved moisture management over many other FR fabrics, information from the company claims.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are garments with no flame resistance and whose fibres are flammable, such as cotton or wool undergarments or “street clothes” that can ignite and cause burns in arc flash conditions, says Ransome.

Wirts recommends avoiding nylon, polyester, rayon and polycotton blends. “What you end up with is injuries that are sustained because of the material you are wearing.”

Batson agrees, noting that any clothing that is not flameresistant can ignite and cause more harm than the arc flash itself.

“Many people consider non-flame-resistant, 100 per cent cotton as an acceptable option for protection from an electric arc flash because there is not a synthetic component that can melt, drip or adhere to the skin,” Ransome reports. But that cotton “can ignite just as easily as poly-cotton fabric in an electric arc flash,” he says. Although it will not melt and drip, cotton burns hotter than poly-cotton blends and is typically heavier, producing a longer burn that is more difficult to extinguish.

Another type of clothing that may sometimes need to be avoided is “high heat” aluminized protective garments, Ransome says. It is often incorrectly assumed that these offer protection from electric arcs and flash fires because the hazards involve the possibility of very high temperatures. Although aluminized fabrics can block radiant energy from an arc flash, the aluminum is considered a good electrical conductor and can actually increase the probability of an arc flash occurring, he warns.

There appears to be some disagreement, even among the experts, regarding protection offered by these FR garments.

Wirts says that just because a product is arc flash-resistant does not make it flash fire-resistant. However, “at least for the materials that exist in the market today, all those that are flash fireprotective are also arc-protective.”

“We have a product that is widely popular here in the U.S. for electric utility companies — it’s got good arc protection, it’s comfortable, it’s very useful and appropriate, but when you put it in a flash fire test, it fails miserably,” Wirts adds.

Batson points out, however, that sometimes a thin fabric, such as Nomex, will offer protection against flash fire, but because it is thinner and lighter, it will not be suitable for arc flash. In an explosion, the garment could tear and burn the wearer, he says.

It is important to remember that even though a garment claims it has flame-resistant properties, users still have a responsibility to educate themselves.

For electric arc protection, the Canadian Standards Association’s (CSA) Z462 standard Workplace Electrical Safety offers some guid-

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PIPELINE SPRING 2013 | 21

PRODUCTS | PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ance. The CSA reports the second edition of the standard, released in January of 2012, also introduces the term “arc rated” as applied to protective equipment, which is meant to distinguish arc flash protection from the flame or flash fire resistance of equipment or clothing.

For flash fire hazards, the Canadian General Standards Board’s 155.20 standard, Workwear for Protection Against Hydrocarbon Flash Fire, includes a three-second burn test. A mannequin is burned to produce a predictive burn number that indicates the percentage of the body that may suffer seconddegree burns in a flash fire.

“It has to be less than 50 per cent to pass,” Batson reports. “But would you want to buy a garment that is going to give you potentially 49 per cent body burn and there is another one available that’s only 10 per cent?”

The amount of energy it takes to create a second-degree burn 50 per cent of the time is referred to as the arc thermal protection value, measured in calories per square centimetres. Wirts says that one such unit is the amount of energy it takes to raise a gram of water by one degree Celsius. “Most people don’t communicate the fact that that’s the 50 per cent probability,” he adds.

Charles-Alex Beauvais, an FR division manager at Big Bill Work Wear in Magog, Quebec, says it is up to the end user to ensure a garment is certified to applicable standards by asking questions and requesting information. “There [are] many people

in this industry that are manufacturing not according to the rules and I think it’s a lack of information,” Beauvais contends. “There are a lot of mistakes on labelling in the industry and it is confusing the market big time.”

A reputable fabric or garment brand from an approved vendor can go a long way toward eliminating confusion.

“Some people have been known to cut corners and use non-FR thread,” Batson cites as an example. “What happens if you are in a flash fire? The whole garment could come apart and then your safety is compromised,” he says, emphasizing the need for the entire garment — right down to the buttons and zippers — to be flame-resistant.

When selecting an FR garment, cost is just one of four major factors to consider, Beauvais advises.

The others are as follows: •P rotection: The first factor involves identifying the potential work-related hazard and the industry standard that applies.

•A ppearance: the second factor could involve such influences as whether or not any high-visibility reflective tape needs to be applied to the garment.

•C omfort: The third factor takes into account garment fit, style, breathability, moisture management and weight.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

1

Lakeland Industries Inc. in Brantford, Ontario offers one product that features a “balance of protection” in the form of chemical and flame retardant protection, says the company’s national sales manager, Jason Riesberry.

As a unique option in the oil and gas industry, Pyrolon CRFR protective wear is a sized garment with elastic wrists and ankles and an attached hood. “The reason that’s good is people are already wearing a traditional Nomex or regular thermal garment,” Riesberry says. “If people are wearing regular disposable clothing or chemical clothing over top of that, that’s made of thermal plastic material. So if something ignites to that, it’s going to cause more harm.”

The Pyrolon CRFR garments also feature fully-taped seams to provide a complete seal against chemical penetration, and a double-zip and storm flap front fastening. “It allows the guys to work in their environment while still offering the protection,” Riesberry says.

The soft, pliable fabrics make the garments ideal for asbestos or abatement jobs, fracking, work in the oil fields or during refining operations, he adds.

Product information from Lakeland notes that the chemicalresistant and flame-retardant disposable gear bars contaminating flammables like paint, oil and grease, hazardous liquids, dry particulates and other harmful contaminants from penetrating to inner clothing. The self-extinguishing product will not melt or drip, but must be worn over thermally protective coveralls, such as woven Nomex, in environments where flash fire is a concern.

22 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

2

For protection against hazards in the oil and gas industry, NASCO has PetroLite. It features the inherently FR material Nomex, coated with neoprene, which has some inherent FR characteristics to provide resistance against a variety of chemicals, solvents, acids and organic acids.

“Neoprene is also extremely durable, so in very rugged environments, it makes it an ideal choice,” says Andrew Wirts, sales and marketing director with NASCO Industries Inc. in Greenwood, Indiana. “It’s resistant to abrasion, it’s tough, so it doesn’t puncture very easily.”

PROTECTIVE CLOTHING | PRODUCTS “A garment kept in storage cannot protect anyone, so once required protective qualities in the fabric are met, we focus on designing the garment to provide the utmost safety in a moving, working environment,” Ransome says.

Wirts argues that “you can’t make something so protective or so thick and bulky to protect against the most massive of hazards if it doesn’t provide a certain amount of flexibility for a guy to do his job.” However, with all the advancements in materials over the years, Batson points out that FR garments are now often similar in weight to non-FR work clothing.

Workers may also need protection against the elements, whether that is extreme cold, heat or rain.

NASCO offers what it calls “the most popular foul-weather product designed specifically for utility workers who may be exposed to electric arcs.” The product features a mesh-vented cape back, a hood that rolls into the collar and an access point for fall protection gear.

For its part, Ranpro has announced the availability of both flash fire and arc protective garments that can incorporate D-ring access vents for safety harnesses, as well as FR drawstring waists and enclosed sleeve cuffs to protect against flames travelling up inside the garment, Ransome says.

No doubt, FR garments have come a long way, Batson says.

“Now there are garments with four-way stretch, knit sweatshirts,

3

Mark Saner, technical manager at Workrite Uniform Company, which recently expanded into the Canadian market, says that it is not uncommon for safety equipment purchasers to inquire about why they need to wear flameresistant (FR) clothing.

“Flame-resistant clothing minimizes the amount of burn injury when exposed to a flash fire, and the amount of burn injury is directly related to a worker’s chances of surviving a flash fire accident,” Saner says. “Regular work clothing will easily ignite and burn and the amount of burn injury will be significantly worse both in the degree and amount of area burned.”

FR blue jeans, features like high-visibility colours, tapes and trims, and abrasion-resistant patching.”

In many situations, workers may require more than one layer, which demands extra vigilance when it comes to gear selection.

“The wrong outer layer can very much negate any of the proper clothing that you have on underneath,” Ransome cautions. “For example, a basic outerwear jacket layered over an arc flash protective garment would melt and fuse to the arc flash garment and could dangerously impact the secondary garment’s protective properties.”

To ensure that all layers will work together to provide adequate protection, Ransome says they should all have energyabsorbing characteristics and work with the layer directly underneath or above.

“If you need to wear layers,” Batson advises, “all your layers should be FR, not just one layer.”

However, Ransome cautions that a user must remember that he or she cannot “add up” the protection factors offered by various pieces of FR clothing to obtain a greater level of protection.

Even though statistics show there is less than a one per cent chance that an industrial worker will be exposed to a flash fire or arc flash over their work lives, Batson reports, safety cannot be ignored 99 per cent of the time. “FR clothing has got to be viewed as a lifesaving device, just like an air bag in a car,” he maintains. PL

Saner recommends working with a garment manufacturer that has experience in the field of FR and uses and identifies FR fabrics with known field performance.

Workrite’s product line for the oil and gas industry includes FR coveralls (and insulated coveralls), pants, shirts, bibs and jackets, among others. For example, one of the company’s Series 167 industrial coveralls with reflective tape feature a reinforced tool pocket on the right leg, a solid brass breakaway zipper, double-stitched seams for enhanced durability and an elastic waist.

Information from NASCO’s website notes that PetroLite provides multiple-hazard protection for workers exposed to foul weather and electric arcs, flash fires, chemical splash and steam and hot water hazards. The heavy-duty waterproof rainwear is recommended for the following applications: well servicing, drilling rig operations, steamassisted gravity drainage, heavy oil, pipeline construction and maintenance, oil refining and processing, offshore oil and gas drilling, oil and gas extraction and tank cleaning.

“The oil and gas industry is a multi-hazard work environment,” Wirts says. “You not only have inclement weather, you have all kinds of liquid-based chemicals and solvents that represent hazards, you have the potential of a flash fire, you have the potential of an electric arc.”

PIPELINE SPRING 2013 | 23

PRODUCTS | EYEWASHES/EMERGENCY SHOWERS

WHEN SECONDS

COUNT

I

By Greg Burchell

n any emergency, it is imperative that treatment be administered as quickly as possible. For an emergency involving contact with a corrosive liquid or caustic substance, treatment must be provided immediately.

Every second that a hazardous material remains in contact with the skin or eyes can result in severe damage — burning the skin, nerves and muscle tissue or damaging the optic nerve, potentially causing blindness.

In the oil patch, or any workplace where the risk of contact with harmful substances is present, employees need to provide workers with obstruction-free access to an eyewash station or an emergency shower within a 10-second, or approximately 15-metre, walk.

“It’s not so much about how many people you have or where the people are,” says Margo Mee, product manager at Haws Drinking Faucet Company in Sparks, Nevada. “If you have a 200,000 square foot facility but your hazard only affects [one area], that’s where your equipment needs to be.”

24 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

In Canada’s oil and gas industry, hazardous materials could include flammable and combustible liquids, diesel fuel or gasoline and corrosive liquids and solids, among others.

“If there’s something that could get on your face, in your eyes or on your body that is harmful to your skin or your eyes, then you need an eyewash or a shower available to rinse that product clean,” Mee says.

Ryan Pfund, product manager at Bradley Fixtures Corporation in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, adds that material safety data sheets for the chemicals present should be reviewed, as this will help provide information on the proper means to rinse the hazard.

The options available for flushing a dangerous substance include portable, handheld bottles of fluid solution; face and eyewash stations; emergency shower units; and the less-commonly used full-body immersion tubs. Marie-Louise Stenhammar, brand manager for Cederroth in Upplands Väsby, Sweden, says small bottles of solution can be taken by workers to different

PRODUCTS | EYEWASHES/EMERGENCY SHOWERS

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT EYEWASHES

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Kelly Piotti, senior product manager for eyewash with Honeywell Safety Products in Smithfield, Rhode Island, says that the primary choice for employers in the oil and gas industry is an eyewash station, as opposed to an emergency shower.

Piotti points out that a primary device could be a plumbed-in eyewash that comes in through tap water or a portable device.

That could include a two-year cartridge or a tank-style device — filled with water and a preservative or a concentrate of some sort to pH balance it — which is changed out every six months.

“In my experience, if it is an older location and they plan on being there for quite some time, you will see your plumbedin station,” Piotti says. Other frequent choices, especially in newer locations, are portable stations. “I do see a lot of portable stations with the cartridges because they do last that 24-month life and the stations can be put in place and moved, whether it’s on a cart or a stand or they actually put it up on a cement wall near a location.”

In the oil and gas industry, there is often not a lot of flowing water and the sites are situated in remote locations. As such, an eyewash bottle is ideal for workers — whether it is on their person, in a nearby bag or on their trucks. “I’ve seen them actually built into their tool cases where they carry two bottles in those places, somewhere where it is easily accessible,” Piotti adds.

There are also custom-designed, heated, intrinsically safe stations for use in explosive environments. However, they can cost between $3,000 and $4,000, compared to an “average” portable station’s cost of $600 including cartridges, or about the same for plumbed-in stations. “But then you have to consider all the plumbing that needs to take place and have a plumber on board.” To maintain the heating, the stations also have to be plugged in. “Otherwise, the solutions will freeze and that’s both a plumbed-in unit or a portable unit because the plumbing will freeze as well.”

Piotti also cautions against modifying the unit in any way, such as changing the layout of the electronics to get the unit into certain locations as it can hinder how the station operates.

26 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

work locations throughout the day. While these bottles of portable flushes do not provide the required 15-minute flush, they can be used as a stop-gap measure while exposed workers make their way to an emergency fixture.

“When you get something corrosive in the eye, especially alkalis, it starts to corrode the eye. If you wait for maybe one minute, the damage has already begun,” Stenhammar says. The bottled saline mixture is buffered so that if small amounts of alkaline get into the mixture, the liquid will retain the same pH balance as tears. This makes it more comfortable for the eyes during a rinse, she adds.

Eyewash stations and showers are used in a variety of applications, and come in different sizes and price points, notes Kelly Piotti, senior product manager with Honeywell Safety Products in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

“It really all goes down to how much you are willing to spend; how often are you willing to maintain your station,” she says.

“Portable stations need a visual maintenance once a month to ensure it has not been tampered with, but if you use a tank style, you have a four- to six-month cleaning of the station and removal of the water, because you’re using potable water and an additive or concentrate to preserve that water.”

Bigger operations, such as in Alberta’s oil sands, may necessitate a custom job, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take about four weeks from consultation to finished product, notes Michael Bolden, director of marketing and sales at Encon Safety Products Inc. in Houston, Texas.

The company has designed custom-manufactured stations in which the units are self-contained and work without potable water or electricity. Air cylinders are mounted on the stations that pump tepid water and the units can operate in extremely low temperatures, Bolden reports.

The internationally accepted guidelines for emergency eyewash stations and showers, set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard Z358.1, establishes the minimum requirements for the performance, installation, use and testing of emergency fixtures. Eyes must be rinsed for a full 15 minutes after an incident, emergency showers must be tested weekly, water temperatures must be kept between 15 and 37 degrees Celsius and the water should have a minimum flow of 75 litres per minute at 30 pounds per square inch of pressure.

“When you purchase emergency equipment, it is an insurance policy,” Mee says, comparing irrigation fixtures to car or home insurance. “You buy this stuff and you hope you never need to use it, but you do need to make sure it is in good working order in case somebody does.”

While the ANSI standard stipulates the minimum requirements that must be met, the provincial occupational health and safety regulator’s role is to give teeth to these standards.

Manufacturers too should go above and beyond the standards.

“Just designing to the minimum code is not enough,” says Pfund, adding that a worker’s privacy should be considered when selecting an irrigation station, including the need for barrier-free products to accommodate workers with physical disabilities.

Mee advises employers to train new employees on where the irrigation fixtures are located. A safety committee should be established to ensure the units are tested weekly and that all staff

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PRODUCTS | EYEWASHES/EMERGENCY SHOWERS members are trained on how to use it.

Bolden suggests the ANSI requirements provide too much room for variation, which can hinder the flushing process and exacerbate the discomfort already experienced by an exposed worker. For example, he cites that the standard allows the water temperature to hit as low as 15 C, which is considered too cold even in a normal non-emergency shower. He thinks manufacturers and employers should exercise common sense to minimize the discomfort posed by irrigation showers.

For an emergency shower, water that is too cold can lead to hypothermia, considering that a worker needs to be drenched for a sustained period of time. On the other hand, water that is too hot can exacerbate the chemical reaction, Piotti cautions.

The degree of pressure is another factor that should be considered. Pfund says an affected worker who finds the water flow on the eyes, face or body uncomfortable may opt to halt the flushing process prematurely. An irrigation that does not meet the minimum 15 minutes required can result in an improper flush, allowing the caustic chemical to continue to cause damage.

Apart from the comfort factor, irrigation units need to be designed and set up to eliminate the risk of balanced solutions separating should they reach freezing point — not to mention the possible failure of a unit if the water freezes, Piotti cautions.

“Because of the extreme temperatures that you will face — for example, we do a lot of work in northern Alberta with the oil sands and there you have extreme temperatures on the low side — our products there are designed to protect workers down to -40 C. We provide tepid water even in those extremes,” Bolden says.

For companies that operate in places with warm summer months but do not need a cooled station, Piotti recommends a

portable unit that can be moved out of direct sunlight. Providing a reflective cover can help prevent the sun’s heat from raising the temperature of the station and the water inside.

However, Piotti points out that irrigation units that offer heating or cooling options can be prohibitively expensive. A heated irrigation station typically costs between $3,000 and $4,000, she notes.

Another option available for use in colder environments is heat-trace emergency showers. This type of shower provides protection from freezing by having tape wound around the piping to heat them up electrically and having insulation placed over the top to keep it warm, Bolden explains.

In facilities where tepid water is needed for emergency showers or eyewash stations located throughout a workplace — such as outdoors or in a remote location — the entire system can be looped together such that one main heating element is used for all irrigation units. Booster pumps or recirculation pumps can also be employed to get tepid water to those locations, Mee adds.

Encon has set a target temperature for its shower units by using the range that most people take their daily, non-emergency showers — which hovers between 27 C to 37 C — as a guide. After about 50 years of study involving the University of Texas, the University of Houston and the company’s own testing, Bolden says the nominal rate is about 30 C. “In the industry, that is pretty well accepted.”

As with most devices, the design and technology of many emergency showers and eyewash stations have evolved and improved over the years to enhance effectiveness and make them more comfortable for use.

One of the changes was to reverse the way water ejects from an eyewash station at a user’s face. While old stations used to provide a flood of water that rinses from the ear to the nose, “you

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT EYEWASHES

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Haws Integrated’s Model 8710 heated shower and eye/face wash booth is ideally suited for the oil and gas sector.

Adaptable to outdoor conditions, the model provides tempered water with booths that offer simultaneous use, continuous flow for the full 15-minute required drench period, ease of use, protection from elements, privacy and customized electrical configurations to meet classified areas which involve flammable gases.

Marisia Makowksi, sales engineer with Sparks, Nevada-based Haws Integrated, notes that if a worker is in an area where the body is going to be exposed, a shower is needed. If an accident occurs that only affects the face, then an eye/face wash station is adequate. “Most installations cannot limit exposure to a face only and not shoulders, arms, and neck, so most equipment installed in the world is a shower and eye/face wash combination,” she notes.

For the oil and gas sector, Haws’ air-charged Model 8710AC offers customization that does not require the unit to be connected to a water supply or a diesel generator for remote areas without electricity.

To offer products for both ends of the temperature spectrum, Haws will ask for the installation location to confirm what extreme temperatures may be encountered, Makowski reports. Booth designs for temperatures well below freezing include additional space heaters, insulation and freeze-proofing components, while those installed in very warm climates, such as the desert, can be designed with chillers or air conditioners to prevent scalding. Finally, booths designed for ocean platforms may require corrosion-resistant components to battle against salt.

28 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

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PRODUCTS | EYEWASHES/EMERGENCY SHOWERS/HYDRAULIC FRACTURING KITS don’t want any of that chemical to go down into your nasal cavity,” Mee cautions, as this can cause the chemical to go down the throat and into the lungs. It can also heighten the risk of contaminating the other eye, she adds.

Water flow patterns have also been modified to provide a more thorough rinse at a faster rate. Pfund says Bradley’s Halo product line of face-wash stations can rinse 85 per cent of the face, while its Halo and Spintec showers have self-draining features, preventing stagnant water build-up.

Along with attempts to make irrigation units more user friendly and lighter — Honeywell’s portable stations weigh upwards of 45 kilograms, with gravity-fed stations holding about 30 to 40 kilograms of liquid — one significant technological advancement is the addition of radio-frequency identification to two of Honeywell’s stations.

This feature enables an irrigation station to alert users of the liquid’s imminent expiry date through email, text message or by highlighting an entry in the company’s safety products database, Piotti says. This helps to avoid the situation in which the water or solution expires without workers’ knowledge.

“Over time, we’ve gone from a very manual, rubber-cover over nozzles to a sterilized nozzle that is sealed in production,”

Piotti says. “Customers don’t have to touch it, they just install it with a cartridge,” she adds.

Tepid water can be delivered to eyewash and shower flushing stations through various means. The most common method is by installing thermostatic mixing or water tempering valves, which blend hot and cold water to provide a comfortable flushing fluid, notes information from Eyewash Direct, an eyewash resource centre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Access to hot water is a necessary component and can be achieved through traditional water heaters, on-demand (tankless) water heaters and re-circulating systems. Mixing valves designed specifically for eyewash-related products include a hot water shut-off to prevent accidental scalding and a cold-water bypass to ensure the continued delivery of flushing fluids should the hot water supply fail, the guide adds.

“Many companies have this attitude that failsafe means, [if] for some reason a mixing valve does not perform properly, it should be cut off. We don’t believe that,” Bolden says. He reports that Encon’s failsafe valves are designed to keep the incoming cold water running — not the heated water from the tank.

And when every second counts, planning for the unexpected just makes good sense. PL

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT HYDRAULIC FRACTURING KITS

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2

Last October, Galson Laboratories, an industrial hygiene analysis and monitoring company based in Syracuse, New York, developed its Hydrofracking Test Kit that allows users to help control exposure to airborne silica and other hazards associated with the practice.

“Hydrofracking involves the injection of water, silica sand, and small amounts of chemicals into wells so that oil and/or natural gas can flow out of the well. [The Occupational Safety and Health Administration] has stated that it is imperative that worker exposures be managed during this process,” says Joe Unangst, president and chief executive officer of Galson Laboratories, in a press release. “One of the first steps in determining if there are exposures is to perform personal air monitoring.”

Galson Laboratories’ test kit includes a Radiello diffusive monitor, an Edge noise dosimeter, a 3M organic vapour monitor, pre-calibrated pump and a cyclone with filter cassette. It is designed to provide testing for such potential exposure hazards during hydrofracking as respirable dust, silica, volatile organic

compounds (including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes), hydrogen sulphide and noise.

Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the U.S. published a hazard alert on worker exposures in hydraulic fracturing operations. It stresses the importance of appropriate protection from silica and other hazards after recent field studies conducted during some fracking operations pointed to airborne silica as a health hazard.

Hach Company, headquartered in Loveland, Colorado, with offices around the world — including one in Mississauga, Ontario — offers its CEL/890 Hydraulic Fracturing Water Analysis Kit featuring on-site results in an easy-to-use, rugged portable lab. The kit covers parameters critical to water analysis in oil and gas applications, including source water, fracturing fluid, produced and flowback water, water treatment, drilling fluids and enhanced oil recovery.

Parameters include alkalinity, bacteria (iron-related, sulphate-reducing and slime-forming), barium, chloride, conduc-

tivity, hardness, iron, pH and sulphate. Additional parameters — such as boron, silica, chlorine and manganese as well as other products suited for fracking operations — may be added as needed.

“Whether used on the back of a tailgate or in a mobile laboratory, the CEL/890 Hydraulic Fracturing Water Analysis Kit yields consistent results time after time. Use the data to identify trends in the quality of source water and treated water or to identify potential interferences with fracturing fluid compounds,” says a product information sheet from the company.

30 | SPRING 2013 PIPELINE

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