SUNCOR'S JOURNEY TO ZERO

Suncor Energy's senior management recognized that the mindset of "accidents happen" was an outmoded response to workplace hazards, and one that had to be replaced. So the Journey to Zero began.

The program objectives were simple: make Suncor's mining, drilling and upgrading operations accident-free zones. However, that created challenges with aligning the workforce to the safety policies of Suncor. This was not going to be an overnight trip, but a long-term commitment of time and resources. To date, more than 10,000 employees and contractors have attended 125 days of workshops and participated in specialized on-the-job training programs and safety awareness seminars.

Five years into the program, safety is becoming a way of life, and a safety culture is emerging at Suncor that affects the actions of all employees and contractors. The Journey is going in the right direction towards an ethic of production based on a safety culture.

As a result of Suncor's Journey to Zero, the two industry measures of safety on the job-LostTime Injury Frequency and Recordable Injury Frequency-have improved significantly. While not at zero yet, the Oil Sands Upgrading facilities have gone more than 10 million hours without a lost time injury, and the mining division has posted three million injury-free hours since the Journey began. In 2006, Suncor completed an injury-free year among its 1,300 Oil Sands mining division employees-including 350 new hires.

The road to Canada's resource future poses many challenges for Canada's oil and gas industry, but none is more important than health and safety. Ensuring everyone goes home safely at the end of the day is always the primary focus. Suncor recognized the need to raise safety to a new level of consciousness within the company to create an injury-free workplace. Their Journey to Zero is helping make it happen.