7.3 Health and Safety

Safety is a primary focal point for all utilities and other entities that make up the Canadian electricity industry.

Introduction to Health and Safety

Electricity is essential to daily life, but it is also dangerous and can injure or kill. Safety is therefore deeply embedded in the design and maintenance of the electrical system and in every facet of how industry jobs are performed.

Employee Safety Strategies

The following are key components of the safety strategies typically followed by utilities.

Tracking and Analysis

Utilities consistently track, report, and analyze key safety metrics—such as near miss incidents, injuries requiring medical treatments, injuries resulting in time away from work, and the severity of injuries—as a basis for continuous improvement.

Targeted Safety Plans

Utilities typically have specific annual plans—targeting factors that have been identified as contributing to injuries and setting out specific and trackable corrective actions.

Oversight and Enforcement

Provincial regulators and safety authorities monitor utility safety performance and intervene with site visits and enforcement actions as needed.

Audits and Certifications

Utilities routinely perform comprehensive audits on their safety systems and practices, often as a means of acquiring or maintaining International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification or other independent certifications.

Employee Awareness and Training

Utilities typically deliver a significant number of hours of safety-related training to each employee each year, focusing on those in trades and other higher-risk roles.

Public Safety

Electricity utilities and regulators also take a very diligent approach to safeguarding public safety around electricity infrastructure.

This includes professionally engineered designs, use of tested and approved equipment, access control, extensive signage, and in some cases, proactive programming to help Canadians of all ages become more aware of potential electricity safety risks.

Overall, rigorous attention to safety-related detail is consistently promoted to ensure that the production and delivery of electricity are never to the detriment of either employee or public safety and well-being.

Knowledge Check

It is typically provincial regulators and safety authorities that monitor utility safety performance and intervene with site visits and enforcement actions as needed.

Now that we have learned about the importance of health and safety, let’s look at how Electricity Canada is addressing security concerns.