Our employees and contractors regularly conduct exercises and drills to reinforce, verify and improve our emergency preparedness capabilities.

Practice helps us be prepared for unplanned crisis situations. Response teams are structured into three tiers according to the complexity of potential incidents: Tier I provides hands-on response to the incident, Tier II provides support to the field staff and provides regional response management, and Tier III (crisis management) provides executive support and action. While Tier III and most Tier II activities operate from the Calgary head office, Tier II capabilities also exist at most of Petro-Canada’s major facility locations (Montreal, St. John’s) and in the United Kingdom for our international operations.

In 2008, Petro-Canada implemented non-discretionary activation triggers and minimum response expectations to ensure the appropriate response occurs in a timely manner. These triggers are also intended to ensure consistency and alignment in business unit responses across the organization.

Training, emergency drills and “tabletop” exercises are held annually to help us gauge our readiness and to implement learnings. In 2008, we conducted one Tier III crisis management team exercise and eight business unit Tier II emergency planning exercises. Over 75 emergency “drills” were held at our operational sites. Exercise debriefs are held to emphasize the “learn and improve” attitude across all business units. We share learnings from drills, exercises and real events across our business units to ensure we are continuously improving our response capabilities.

To enhance the effectiveness of our Emergency Management program, a Community of Practice (COP) of Emergency Response Plan Process Advisors has been formalized. This team has company-wide representation and has been commissioned to facilitate alignment, share learnings and to scan the business environment for opportunities to further enhance our responses. Looking forward, tThe team will also focus on business continuity planning.

Petro-Canada has prepared pandemic plans for each business unit. With the unfolding threat of H1N1 Influenza, Petro-Canada’s Crisis Management Team (CMT) met and provided direction to business units to review and revise their plans to reflect the appropriate trigger points for specific actions to be undertaken. Plans are in place to close any gaps identified as a result of the pandemic plan reviews.