Every day starts with safety.

Keeping safety top of mind

We want everyday to start and end with safety – at work and at home. To keep safety top of mind:

• We have robust safety programs and procedures
• We plan to be safe. The process of safe work planning facilitates hazard identification, actions and controls for the noted hazard, and a process for hazard mitigation
• We set and continuously monitor safety targets
• Crews hold daily safety planning meetings
• Steps are taken to ensure that:
  • equipment is in safe working order
  • employees receive the necessary safety training with mandatory ongoing safety training for employees in field and operating positions
  • employees have the right tools and protective equipment to complete their work in a safe manner

World class safety

The Corporate Safety Program, developed in 2012 and being implemented in 2013, is built to the World Class Safety Standard, which includes 15 key elements outlined in our policy document. These elements are the framework to a fully functional and effective safety program that includes life critical standards such as Incident Management, Hazard Assessment, and Personal Protective Equipment. In 2012, 246 employees at our operating facilities and construction projects participated in an eight-hour workshop called World Class Safety.

Health and safety committees in 2012

Our plants and offices have health and safety committees. One hundred and ten Capital Power employees served on 15 committees in 2012, an increase from nine committees in 2011.

Safety walk abouts

In addition to regular inspections conducted throughout the year at all operational and construction sites, safety inspections are conducted by executives with the assistance of a site employee and health and safety team member. In addition, office health and safety committees began conducting monthly inspections of their offices and reporting areas for improvement.

Choosing smarter - Contractor Safety Prequalification standard

In October 2012, after more than six months of development and stakeholder review, the Contractor Safety Prequalification standard was approved and is being implemented in 2013.  

Using a third-party international company, ISNetworld, to support our internal standard, ensures all contractors are evaluated and graded on the same scale in determining if they are a safe organization. The tool and process have been effective in several circumstances where process and statistical data showed that additional requirements were needed to ensure the health and safety of our employees and contractors on site.

Health and safety on and off the job – ongoing communication

We want our employees safe - everywhere. Throughout 2012, we increased communication with employees on health and safety well-being to increase awareness and reduce occurrences. Many communications were the result of our internal data and trending of near misses (near injuries) and incidents.

We sent over 20 safety communications in 2012 on a range of topics for at work and at home. Some examples include:

• Slips, Trips, Falls
• Stay safe on Halloween
• First Aid month – Why take a first-aid course
• Tiverton recognizes 10 years without a recordable incident
• Safety Matters – Carbon Monoxide, Winter driving (ice and snow) and safe sledding.

Solving problems together

"Anytime during the day if we’re faced with a situation that could possibly be a safety issue, you can bring your manager, your boss, your supervisor into it and you can ask them their opinion and come up with a path moving forward so you can negate that possible safety problem that might occur.

And that, to me, is an appreciation of how they feel about me, and likewise, how they feel about my family."

Living and working safely
Safety training for employees

Employees were required to complete specific courses by the end of 2012:

Course	Completion Rate
Alcohol and Drug Training for Canadian Supervisors and Managers	98%
Managing for World Class Safety for all facilities	87%
Office Safety for all Capital Power office employees	97%
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)  for all Canadian employees	97%
Hazard Communication for all U.S. employees	99%

Mandatory first aid training at our facilities

Our facilities have a legislative requirement to have a specific number of employees trained in first aid, depending on the number of employees at each location. In 2012, 143 site-employees were trained in first aid.

First Aid for employees and their families

Starting in 2012, we conducted (and paid for) eleven optional first aid courses:

• Standard First Aid – Level C CPR & AED training for employees
• Emergency First Aid – Level A CPR & AED for families of employees in Alberta
• The Babysitter course to employees’ children in Alberta

Babysitter first aid training helps a citizen in distress

When Ahmed, a senior advisor at Capital Power, directed his daughter Zahra to the Babysitter First Aid Training course Capital Power offered last year, neither had an idea how quickly it would pay off.

On her way to school one morning, Zahra and her friend stepped off their train to discover a crowd gathered by the platform elevators. A female passenger had collapsed, and although she was clearly in medical distress, none of the people in the crowd were stepping in to assist. Zahra remembered her training and immediately called 911, and waited at the woman’s side until help arrived. When another commuter stepped in to check the woman’s vitals, Zahra was able to concentrate on being the contact for the ambulance and staying online with the 911 operator until the situation was resolved. One of the local TV stations in Edmonton, Alberta profiled their efforts.

“I think this was a great course for Zahra,” Ahmed said. “It gave her a real appreciation for the kinds of situations she might face. We’re both really glad she took it – and I guess now there’s someone else out there who feels that way, too.”