B Y D AV I D C O L L
Good Work and Good Deeds Along Line 3 Pipeliners forged lasting friendships across the Prairies
Images supplied by Enbridge
"O
ur best work is buried in the ground.” That’s a phrase you’re likely to hear from Enbridge construction manager Allen Sawatzky — if the topic is the quality and workmanship of the recently completed Line 3 replacement pipeline (L3RP). But Sawatzky is equally passionate about the legacy the company is leaving above the ground in communities spanning almost 1,100 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta. to the Manitoba-U.S. border near Gretna, Man. “Enbridge took the approach that we are guests on the landowners’ property in the communities we called home during four seasons of pipeline construction,” Sawatzky says. “We worked hard to ensure this mindset was well-communicated and implemented among our entire workforce, whether they were on the job or after hours in the community.” With an armada of yellow iron (heavy equipment) moving along the highways and backroads, and crews of 800 to 1,000 workers for roughly every 100 km of sparsely populated right-of-way during peak construction, some landowners expressed concern at the outset of the project about safety and potential risk of fire.
Such concerns are anticipated and addressed in any project Enbridge or its contractors undertake as components of a comprehensive construction safety strategy, Sawatzky says. For the L3RP, this included equipping every truck and piece of heavy equipment with a fire extinguisher, water cans and a Pulaski (an axe-like tool for wildland firefighting than can dig and chop wood).
Going above and beyond Each construction “spread” had three or four water trucks ready to be deployed as necessary. Every crew had several first-aid trained and equipped personnel, and medics were positioned within a 20-minute response time all along the right-of-way. “These emergency response and preparedness measures aren’t in place just for pipeline incidents,” Sawatzky says. “They’re for any safety issue that might arise. During the Line 3 project, our people went the extra mile by helping out community members off the right-of-way on several occasions.”
A landowner and Allen Sawatzky catch up at a CAEPLA workshop in Rosetown
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