Pierre Perrin-Monlouis Dernière mise à jour: 20 octobre 2021
Calgary, Alberta (April 1, 2008) – Suncor Energy Inc. last night presented its President’s Operational Excellence Awards to employees and contractors who showed exceptional safety leadership, environmental excellence and health and wellness commitment in 2007.
“Congratulations to this year’s award recipients for their hard work and dedication,” said Rick George, Suncor’s president and chief executive officer. “Our employees and contractors are raising the bar when it comes to keeping our co-workers, communities and work sites safe.”
The program’s two top awards recognize world-class safety performance by Suncor contractors and employees. The top award for Suncor employees went to the company’s Canadian downstream operation, which has built a safety culture into all of its functions and recorded zero lost-time incidents in 2007. The contractor award went to Thompson Bros. (Constr.) Ltd., which worked more than one million hours at Suncor’s in situ operation northeast of Fort McMurray while maintaining outstanding safety performance.
For the first time, the awards program included an award for health and wellness commitment. The recipient was the Health and Wellness Committee in Suncor’s downstream operation in Commerce City, Colorado for increasing employee participation in health and wellness activities and working with human resources to promote wellness initiatives.
This year’s 31 award recipients were chosen by a panel of Suncor judges from almost 150 nominees. Suncor launched the annual President’s Operational Excellence Awards in 2002 as part of a company-wide initiative to eliminate occupational illness and injuries. The awards program was later expanded to include recognition for environmental excellence and health and wellness commitment.
NOTE FOR EDITORS: See background information below for information about award recipients and the communities in which they live and work.
Suncor Energy Inc. is an integrated energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Suncor’s oil sands business, located near Fort McMurray, Alberta, extracts and upgrades oil sands and markets refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, while operations throughout Western Canada produce natural gas. Suncor operates a refining and marketing business in Ontario with retail distribution under the Sunoco brand. U.S.A. downstream assets include refining operations in Colorado and retail sales in the Denver area under the Phillips 66 brand. Suncor’s common shares (symbol: SU) are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.
Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. is an authorized licensee of the Phillips 66 brand and marks in the state of Colorado. Sunoco in Canada is separate and unrelated to Sunoco in the United States, which is owned by Sunoco, Inc. of Philadelphia.
For more information: Darcie Park (403) 205-7959
Backgrounder: Suncor Energy President’s Operational Excellence Awards
Recipients of this year’s President’s Operational Excellence Awards for safety and environmental excellence were:
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Daniel Gervais, Flint Energy Services, implemented daily on-the-job safety practice tools and established a number of training courses that helped improve safety performance in 2007.
Brian Vestby, Suncor, led his team to a new safety performance benchmark in 2007 of more than 14 million hours with no lost-time incidents on Suncor’s oil sands upgrader expansion.
Aluma Systems implemented key safety programs which enabled employees to work injury-free during a complex tie-in of Suncor’s upgrader expansion project.
Millennium Coker Unit Project Team achieved 11.3 million hours on Suncor’s upgrader expansion project with no lost-time incidents during a period of increased hours and complex work.
Darrell Weichel, TransAlta, demonstrated safety leadership by regularly participating in safety tours, providing individual coaching and ensuring safety issues were addressed immediately.
Fraser Hubbard, manager, drilling operations, facilitated increased hazard identification and behaviour observations, which in turn created a safer working environment at drilling sites.
NorCan Electrical & Instrumentation worked closely with several Suncor teams to enable safe construction inside Suncor’s oil sands facility. This team achieved zero lost-time incidents over more than 240,000 hours in 2007.
Growth Planning & Development Construction Team demonstrated strong safety leadership to achieve an exceptional safety record in 2007. Team members assisted each other to ensure successful safety performance on all projects.
North Steepbank Bridge Installation and Environmental Mitigation Team designed protection measures to minimize the impact of bridge construction on the Steepbank River. The project team also designed a wildlife corridor around the bridge and installed structures to enhance fish habitat.
Consolidated Tailings Production Team improved production processes and worked closely with stakeholders to increase Suncor’s consolidated tailings production capacity. Consolidated tailings technology is designed to enhance reclamation by accelerating the release of water from tailings.
Sarnia, Ontario
Jose Gregorio, Jacobs Industrial Services, whose 24 years of continuous improvement in safety practices make him a leader and a mentor to co-workers at the Sarnia refinery. He maintains safe working conditions for the team by identifying and eliminating risks.
Ron Brander, Suncor, is an advocate for the well-being of others, maintaining a focus on working safely during all site inspections and in thorough pre-job, supervisor and safety meetings.
Anderson-Webb Ltd. completed a number of complex projects at Suncor’s Sarnia refinery with no lost-time incidents in 2007.
2007 Alky Turnaround Team completed a 30-day planned equipment outage at Suncor’s Sarnia refinery with zero safety incidents.
Refinery Flare System Upgrade Team introduced a new flare gas recovery system at the Sarnia refinery to reduce air emissions during periods of flaring and to recover natural gas that can be used at the refinery.
Commerce City, Colorado
Bob Sekich, Martinez & Hromada, planned and delivered numerous projects at Suncor’s Commerce City refinery over the past three years with no safety incidents.
Shane Ping, Suncor, demonstrated dedication to safety in his roles on the Commerce City refinery’s Joint Health and Safety Committee and Emergency Response and Rescue team. He also plays a vital role in designing new safety procedures.
Sturgeon Electric has not had a lost-time incident at the Commerce City refinery in 10 years, due in part to a rigorous auditing program and support for peer coaching and feedback.
East Plant Turnaround Team managed a large team of contractors and achieved an outstanding safety record during a 40-day maintenance shutdown at the Commerce City refinery.
Commerce City Refinery Recycling Initiatives partnered with the Commerce City Citizens for Recycling and Recycle America to recycle 59,000 kilograms of office materials and more than 4,500 kilograms of electronic waste. The group also arranged to sell 227,000 kilograms of metal to a recycler, thus diverting the material from landfill disposal.
Calgary, Alberta
Ken Barnett, Anchor Lazy B Inc., identified and fixed an equipment inconsistency at a sour gas well in the Alberta Foothills to ensure drilling took place safely.
Alan Young, Suncor, helped improve contractor safety performance in Suncor’s natural gas business in Alberta and northeastern B.C. In 2007, among other activities, he equipped site foremen with personal toxic gas monitors.
Dave Moore Trucking Ltd. has had no lost-time incidents since 2005, despite working on multiple construction activities in rugged terrain, often in adverse weather conditions.
Well Engineering Services Team has continued to improve safety performance among contractors at Suncor’s natural gas drilling sites.
Keith Readner, Hi-Grade Energy Services, created numerous safety practices, training modules, standards and procedures to minimize safety risk.
Amreek Lamba, Suncor, helped his supply chain management team to become early adopters of environment, health and safety tools and contributed to safety by identifying risks, assisting with safety process learning and promoting seat belt use.
Emerge Learning identified and helped to address inefficient and ineffective behaviours to help keep Suncor employees and contractors free from harm.
Supply Operations Team maintained a strong safety focus through regular safety meetings, housekeeping inspections, and hazard identification. Warehouse staff routinely handled hazardous materials and transported dangerous goods with no lost-time incidents in 2007
