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Oilfield safety program expands

Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services


Yellowknife (Dec 02/02) - A Mackenzie Delta idea could soon be spreading throughout the territories' petroleum patches.

The SHARE group was formed during last year's Delta exploration boom to provide guidelines for a responsible workforce. SHARE stands for safety, health and respect for the environment.

"We feel real comfortable with what we did in the Delta. Now is the time to expand this to the rest of the Northwest Territories," said Anadarko Canada's safety co-ordinator, Dave Johnston.

He's leading a group of industry heavy hitters involved in SHARE, including ConocoPhillips and Akita Equtak Drilling Ltd.

This year's exploration and drilling is more intense further south around Colville Lake in the Sahtu region and on Gwich'in lands. There might not be enough trained Northerners available to work in those areas. It is expected that some Delta-based workers will move to the southern worksites hoping to hire on.

"It makes sense to make sure this is a standard basic safety program that includes training," said Johnston.

The safety initiative was driven by a need for a trained and safe workforce that will eventually keep oilfield costs down. Injury-related down time and rising Workers' Compensation Board costs play havoc with a corporation's bottom line.

SHARE is the industry representative of a territorial oil and gas training strategy committee putting together a proposal to go to the federal government for workforce training dollars.

The oil and gas industry spent about $5 million over recent seasons on training, according to Johnston. That adds up to $25,000 per person.