Dan Murray from GHD made a presentation on “Environment Best Practices in Emergencies – Evaluating Data Needs During an Incident”

The Modelling Process begins with a scoping phase: identifying the need for the modelling; assigning a SME/team; selecting the right model; verifying inputs and outputs; gathering information for inputs; building & running the model; presentation formatting; and presenting & documenting findings and specifying the assumptions & limitations.

Sampling and monitoring environment data is needed to make operational decisions and monitor conditions. This is completed by developing sampling plans & monitoring plans for media of concern to characterize and monitor environmental impacts. Sampling environmental media involves: soil, water, waste, air, biota and background sampling.

The site map or diagram from should include general information, wind direction, north arrow, objects (i.e. roads), possible product migration paths, area of release and location of air monitoring equipment.

If you have a spill, you will have waste and should plan for it in advance. The Waste Management Plan should: identify waste streams & alternatives for management early in the planning cycle; provide input to minimize waste generation; facilitate feasibility study & alternatives analysis; ensure compliance with applicable regulations; supervise & document; and anticipate daily requests for mass balance and recovery volumes.

The Waste Management Plan should include: number & name of waste streams; accumulation areas; transportation of waste; disposal facilities; and tracking table. The Response Framework in order of priority is: to control at source & on water/land/groundwater; protect resources at risk; and treat. Remediation includes: conceptual site model; site characterization; remedial objectives; feasibility study/evaluation; and implementation/ monitoring.

A Conceptual Site Model (CSM) is: a tool for identifying threats to human health and the environment; helps guide investigation, baseline risk assessment & remedial design; helps with engagement with stakeholders; evolves with site characterization & risk assessment; and is the basis for establishing remedial objectives.

Site Characterization includes: delineating source areas & impacted media; collecting information on surface & subsurface conditions to allow modelling & risk assessment; technologies & techniques available; and a sampling & analysis plan.

The Sampling and Analysis Plan’s key components are: site background; sampling rationale; data quality objectives; investigation locations; field sampling procedures; sample containers, preservation, packaging, shipping & integrity procedures; decontamination procedures; management of waste; and laboratory analytical methods.

Remedial Objectives may be driven by: risk management; regulatory or stakeholder considerations; natural considerations; and historical contamination.

Munir Maani from IBM made a presentation called “Cloud Computing & Quantum Computing”.

Munir talked about cloud-based services that go well beyond storage including sharing applications with customers, providing middleware or other services. To access cloud-based services, the user needs an operating system, middleware, servers, storage, network connection and back up storage for disaster recovery. The cloud can provide most of these services. It can provide infrastructure as a service.

You can utilize services and infrastructure of the cloud provider by renting runtime, middleware, OIS, virtualization, servers, storage and networking. Renting these services provides scalability to upsize or downsize as the company size and number of customers changes. Expansion costs such as new equipment, middleware, servers, hardware and networking, etc. is done by renting rather than purchasing. You can also expand into new territories by renting cloud services.

Security is enhanced with multiple layers of security reducing the vulnerability to ransomware, theft, outages and their associated costs. In terms of power outages, you can still operate during outages from another powered area where you can deal with disaster recovery. There are budgeting advantages allowing pay as you use, elasticity, reconciliation and forecasting. Tools allow you to track the services being used.

The future is Quantum Computing where super computers which are 5,000 times faster than existing computers. You can interact with a quantum computer without having one. At the moment, these types of computers can easily to hacked. Programmers are working on better security for these super computers.

Gauravi Saini of Reclay Steward Edge Inc. made a presentation called “Introduction to Sustainability”.

Gauravi defined Sustainability as “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” She provided several examples of company sustainability such as being energy renewable, recycling packaging materials, using recycled packaging and reducing carbon emissions all by selected dates.

She talked about sustainability in the supply chain, including providing transparency.

Supply Chain Sustainability should be based on the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) principles (non-financial variables) including:

• Minimizing the impact of people & the planet, energy savings and reduction of pollutants.
• Reviewing working conditions, relationships with clients & suppliers and human resource management.
• Looking at the appointment & renumeration of executives and having respect for shareholders.

COVID-19 was a key disrupter in supply-demand activities. Supply Chain Management is not inventory management or cost cutting. It is redesigning for efficiency, cutting carbon emissions and increasing resilience. Companies should introduce sustainability by:

• Starting small by educating staff about trends and tools.
• Learning what the big players are doing.
• Looking at consumption of energy, fuel & water.
• Starting the sustainability conversation with first-tier suppliers.
• Measuring your carbon footprint.

Kapil Ghai of Toronto Board of Trade made a presentation on “Communication, Networking &; Team Building”. He talked about building relationships virtually and transitioning to going back to a hybrid or fully back to work. It is important to know how to transition from working from home to a hybrid situation. He believes in networking throughout the organization. You need to know the champions on each team in the organization. You should especially try and connect with new people on the team. One of his favourite expressions is “teamwork makes the dream work”.

Lisa Bolton and Zack Lebane from Sherrard Kuzz Employment & Labour Lawyers made a presentation on “COVID 19 Vaccination and the Workplace”. Lisa reviewed of the changing Federal and Provincial COVID requirements.

Zack talked about when a vaccination policy reasonable. In a unionized workplace, a vaccination policy should meet the “KVP Test”: it must be consistent with the collective agreement; reasonable; clear & unequivocal; brought to the attention of employees; employees must be notified that a breach of the policy could result in discharge; and it should be consistently enforced.

Zack talked about a number of legal decisions about “reasonableness”: The takeaways from Zack’s presentation included:

• If indoors and in-person, a vaccination or test policy is likely reasonable.
• In a workplace with higher risk of transmission, higher consequences and/or history of outbreaks, vaccination or leave of absence policy is likely reasonable. Discipline or termination can be contemplated as a later step.
• Expect more vaccinate or terminate policies in the coming months in the health care sector.
• Trajectory of COVID-19 will impact reasonableness.
• Employers should be prepared to amend or update policies as needed.

Lisa concluded the presentation on vaccination and religious objection. Most human rights-based exemption requests are based on religious beliefs. Several legal decisions were reviewed. As a takeaway, Lisa suggested several questions to ask to support an accommodation request:

• What religion/creed do you practice?
• How long have you practiced this religion/creed?
• Why does your belief in this religion/creed prevent you from being vaccinated against COVID-19?
• Have you previously been vaccinated against any other illnesses? If so, why were those vaccinations permissible under your religion/creed?
• Do you have objective documentation to support the position you are unable to be vaccinated?
• Critically review information received since it is unlikely that claims based on an employee’s conscience will be sufficient, even if claim is that religion protects the ability to follow one’s conscience.
• If accommodation is required, employees are not entitled to ‘choose’ a remote work arrangement if another arrangement is feasible (i.e., testing).

Ryan Wheeler of Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. (TNPI) made a presentation on “A Summary of Trans-Northern 2021 Exercise Program”.

Ryan mentioned the 4 pillars of Trans-Northern Emergency Management Program as prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Ryan summarized TNPI annual exercise program which includes:

• A full-scale exercise every 3 years.
• Regional table-top exercises.
• A business continuity/disaster recovery planning table-top exercise.
• Quarterly drills testing TNPI’s call answering service.
• Participation in the Western Canada Spill Services Cooperative drill/exercise.

The Full-Scale Exercise postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19 was held in November 2021. TNPI uses the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Exercise Planning Model. The exercise focused on a security event at the Edmonton International Airport. A key lesson learned indicated that in the event of malicious activity an organization must consider the impact of law enforcement and crime scene management which will likely cause significant delays in site access and response.

Regional Table-Top Exercises focused on initial strategies and tactics for spills into bodies of water. The exercise was used to review existing aerial surveillance, how industry resources could improve capacity, and notifications with regional stakeholders. In the exercise used a Mentimeter to facilitate a quiz approach.

Regional Preparedness Exercises focused on responding to a stalled pipeline inspection gauge (PIG).

The Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Planning Table-Top Exercise evaluated a cyber security threat to its operational technology and included a presentation on best practices promoted by Canada’s Cyber Security Centre. The exercise also tested mitigation, response and recovery measures to protect and recover critical business operations.

TNPI also does quarterly Call Answering Service Drills and is involved in the Western Canada Spills Services Oil Spill Cooperative Drills.

Julia Lok of the Ontario Workplace Safety & Prevention Services made a presentation “COVID Best Practices at the Workplace”. Julia went over the legal requirements related to COVID including the Occupational Health & Safety Act, Reopening Ontario Act, Regulation 364/20, Employment Standards Act and local health orders and measures.

A COVID-19 safety plan includes screening, physical distancing, limiting capacity, cleaning & disinfection, PPE and face coverings. Safety plan best practices include:

• Following current requirements & advisories.
• Using Safety Plan Builder (www.workplacesafetyplanbuilder.labour.gov.on.ca).
• Providing clear & current info.
• Utilizing various communication options such as postings, email, etc.

Best practices for screening include:

• Screening all workers & non-workers before they enter including a questionnaire, RAT and self-monitoring tool.
• Screening visitors before arrival and on-site.
• Maintaining attendance records.

Risks can be controlled by limiting capacity in any congregating areas, utilizing outdoor spaces, using surgical & procedure masks, and using the ventilation checklist (www.ohcow.on.ca/posts/ventilation-checklist-covid-19/) and ventilation calculation tools (www.ohcow.on.ca/posts/classroom-ventilation-calculation-tool/).

Where there is a potential exposure you need to determine the contacts using cohorts & attendance information under Public Health guidance, communicate the exposure and have response procedures and return to work programs in place.

To manage risks you must regularly identify, access, recommend controls and evaluate hazards and potential harassment, threats & violence to workers and factors contributing to negative mental health.

To evaluate if your COVID safety plan is working you should have scheduled reviews, worker feedback, involve the health & safety representative and committee, and conduct monthly inspections.

WSPS COVID-19 Resources are available at (https://covid19.wsps.ca/) and on the WSPS website (https://www.wsps.ca/).

Rob Read of Environment Canada made a presentation on “Public Notifications under the E2 Regulations”.

Rob Read began the presentation on companies that E2 Regulation apply to having a substance on the list over prescribed limits. The responsible person for E2 should have detailed info including a description of measures. To communicate to the potentially impact areas of the potential consequences and the measures taken if an environmental emergency occurs. The presentation focused on the requirements under E2 Regulations for public notification.

Notification is required for the possibility and potential consequences of an environmental emergency, a description of the measures taken to protect life, health and the environment and the measures to communicate with the public during and after an emergency.

Before an emergency, the public that may be impacted outside of the facility by an emergency should be notified of potential emergencies, consequences and measures that will be taken if there is an emergency. Notification could include door to door, phone calls, email, town hall meetings and mailing pamphlets, etc. ECCC doesn’t prescribe how notifications are done. Examples of notifications prior to an emergency were shown including a Superior Propane notification letter and a Nestle plant notification in a newsletter. Rob said that notifications during and after an environmental emergency should include the measures taken and actions to reduce harm. He mentioned a text alert from Nuclear.

Edy Haddad and Brian Mabee of Peninsula Canada made a presentation called “Your Roadmap for Vaccines and COVID-19 in the Workplace”. They talked about what to do if staff refuse the vaccine. You need to educate staff, talk to staff about the vaccine and have a clear policy on vaccinations. Companies need to treat vaccination information like medical records. To keep your workplace safe & compliant you need to track staff vaccination status to help with recalling staff & keeping employees safe.

To reopen your workplace you must assess the workplace capacity for safety and ensure the compliance your health & safety policies for social distancing, disinfection and masking, etc. You need to review your existing COVID procedures, their effectiveness, staff compliance, staff & visitor screening and legislative changes. You should develop policies to recall staff considering phasing recalls, criteria to base recalls on such as seniority or order of layoff, etc. and recall notices. Employment contracts and handbooks should be updated incorporating legislative changes, human rights concerns, addressing vaccination policies and clarifying responsibilities and expectations.

Addressing vaccination in policies and contracts helps to: mitigate risk; clarify expectations; resolve disputes; outline responsibilities; makes training & enforcement easier; and protects from compliance violations.

Penalties for violating ESA and OHS are: financial; legal costs even when winning; cost of wasted management time; poor employee relations & morale; adverse publicity; and reporting to other agencies such as Canada Revenue Agency.

Lisa Bolton of Sherrard Kuzz LLP made a presentation on COVID-19 Vaccination and the Workplace. The presentation was on screening customers/visitors for vaccinations; mandatory employee vaccinations; and compliance with current health & safety requirements to address COVID-19.

When considering if businesses should require proof of vaccinations, they need to weigh the objectives of protecting health & safety & minimizing potential liability under the Occupiers’ Liability Act and Bill 218; vs. the risks of Human Rights Code or privacy complaints/violations. She suggested not to implement vaccination screening for customers/visitors unless the benefit outweighs the risk. If implementing vaccination screening develop a policy you will need to identify why screening is a reasonable business requirement and confirm accommodation will be provided to those who cannot comply for a human rights-related reason. If collecting personal information follow Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act including identifying how information will be used, securely stored, safely destroyed, etc. and obtaining consent prior to collection.

Before implementing a vaccination policy, encourage voluntary compliance through education and incentives (if appropriate) assess objective vs. risk.

Vaccination status (currently) is not an exemption from compliance with public health and safety requirement. Businesses are obligated to ensure public health requirements and recommendations are followed by employees and the public on business premises.

Be prepared for a workplace inspection by having a COVID-19 workplace safety plan and following all health and safety requirements/guidance. Safety plan is a written roadmap addressing how business will address COVID-19 transmission risk. The plan includes education, workplace screening, physical distancing, mask or face coverings, cleaning & disinfecting and wearing of PPE.

Poonam Chodha of Amazon toured the CAER group around the Amazon Fulfillment Centre in Brampton. The Brampton Fulfillment Center is an 80,000 sq. ft. facility on 4 floors which services the Canadian market from Brampton. The operations are made up of inbound and outbound departments. Inbound receives products from hundreds of vendors. Once received, these products become available on the Amazon website to order. Outbound operations, fulfills customer orders by picking, packing and shipping customer orders within specific and tight deadlines. The group toured the facility seeing robots, belt conveyors, packing stations and the shipping of the outgoing goods.

Mitchell Gibbs of First Response Environmental made a presentation: “The Deadly Environmental Malibu Fire”. Mitchell showed a news video early on in the Malibu Wildfire. He talked about the mixed messages on evacuations, the 18,000 structures that were burned over 250,000 acres and the 89 lives lost. He said that most of the deaths were inside vehicles attempting to leave the area late. 250,000 people were successfully evacuated. First Response dealt with the clean up afterwards. He mentioned that Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) were available to help with evacuation, but were not recognized by local official and utilized.

Mitchell estimated that it cost $150,000 to clean up each house. LA County Fire and the US EPA paid for the initial clean up and teams like First Response complete the cleanup. Another issue during the fire was the decommissioned nuclear testing facility (Santa Susana Field Laboratory) where the soil was contaminated and nuclear waste was stored had been partially burned. After the fire, flooding and landslides were an issue since there was no vegetation remaining, 14,000 home were leveled and Pacific Gas & Electric & several insurance companies went bankrupt.

Mitchell wrote a book on the fire.

Sharon Walker of Vaughan Emergency Planning made a presentation called “Exercise Loco Motive”. This was the City of Vaughan’s annual exercise. The objectives were to practice: roles & responsibilities; emergency notification procedures; incident assessment & action planning; coordination, communication & interoperability; using Dashboard; implementing the Drinking Water Emergency Plan; identifying continuous improvements to plans & procedures; and compliance with the Emergency Management & Civil Protection Act.

The scenario was a tanker hit by a train which involved a derailment, fire, chlorine release, helicopter crash and drinking water issues. The exercise involved both CN and Alectra. The methodology was calling in with issues, with 2 shift changes and mock media briefings.

The lessons learned was that: communication was a strength; Dashboard worked well (a training session before the exercise worked); maps and GIS are valuable tools; training staff to keep their briefings short; and situational awareness.

What could be done better: need better audio visuals; drone view from above was great for mapping and video feeds; message; common maps approval needed; updating dashboard; mapping and video feeds further development; procurement form process; and streamline communication.

Recommendations: install audio-video systems in the EOC; purchase IMS colored vests; sections update procedures; investigate mapping software; develop more efficient public alerting; and on-going training.

Ryan Wheeler of Trans-Northern Pipelines made a presentation: “Improving Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness at Trans-Northern Pipeline Terminals”. He outlined several Trans-Northern exercises including an annual exercise in Trenton and 4 table tops. They prepare various emergency scenarios and review tactical response plans and share GIS data. Facility specific plans are undertaken to deal with loss of containment and fire scenarios.

Ryan mentioned several changes and upgrades including: working to upgrade fire pre-plans; outreach to smaller Fire Departments; adding 3rd party support services; foam & resupply resources; emergency product movements; and suppression equipment and response.

Trans-Northern did fire preparedness sessions at GTAA, Farran’s Point and Calgary Airport. In 2019, Trans-Northern plans to revise fire pre-plans and facility response plans, add sessions, add site visits for firefighters and identify different contractors and consultants. The Trans-Northern Notification phone number is 1-800-361-0608.

Sat Anand of Anco Chemicals made a presentation called “Ammonia Exercise”. This was on a Table Top Ammonia Exercise at Anco Chemicals. Sat overviewed ammonia’s properties. Office staff at Anco were asked questions about safety procedures. Sat outlined the scenario that there was a crack on top of a drum. He talked about the PPE requirements for ammonia.

Lisa Bolton of Sherrard Kuzz LLP made a presentation on cannabis in the workplace. Health Canada says that “Using cannabis or cannabis products can impair your concentration, ability to think and make decisions, reaction time and coordination. This can affect motor skills, including ability to drive. It can increase anxiety and cause panic attacks, paranoia and hallucinations.These effects can last 24 hours (or more).

Lisa described the 3 types of impairment: acute, residual and withdrawal. Acute impairment includes: perceptual changes, time distortion, euphoria-“high”, relaxed- “numb”, cognitive changes-memory and learning, attention and reaction time. Residual impairment includes: fatigue, comprehension issues, unclear mind, attention and reaction time. Withdrawal includes: anger, irritability, insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, anorexia and general malaise.

Lisa outlined the why employers should develop and implement a drug & alcohol policy including: providing a safe, productive workplace, controlling workplace activity, communicating standards of conduct, promoting consistent manager response and ensuring all employees are treated fairly and with respect. The scope of drug & alcohol policy should include all sources of intoxicating substances including alcohol, prescription & over-the counter drugs, cannabis (and related products) and Illegal drugs. Components of a drug policy include: detecting use, intoxication and response..

Hugh Fairweather of Safetyscope made a presentation that dealt with changes to OHSA, new offences, MOL proposals and clarification of Regulation 834. Under Section 66 fines have tripled and under Section 69 the MOL now has a year to lay charges. There were also changes to Regulations 213, 297, 860, 833 and 490.

Hugh talked about distracted driving under the Highway Traffic Act and chronic mental stress. There were also changes to the requirements for Workplace First Aid Kits under CSA Z1220-17.

Hugh also talked about future and proposed under Regulation 833–2018, clarifications under Regulation 834 for the construction, industrial and mining industries. And Hugh ended with a discussion on Tool Tethering.

Sat Anand presented at CANECT 2018 conference.

Topic: Best practices in building and maintaining an effective and responsive E2 plan.

• Prevention of, Preparedness for, Response to, and Recovery from Environmental Emergency (E2)
• Benefits of involvement in E2 planning
• Success stories & testing of an E2 plan
• Public Notification

Mike Doherty of E-Hazard / Blue Arc Electrical Safety Technologies made a presentation on Electrical Safety. He works at E-Hazard and chairs the CSA Z462 committee and worked for many years for Ontario Hydro. He talked about the CSA Z1600-17 standard and how it is essential when making recommendations to safety to use a standard rather than base the recommendation on your option. He said that Z462-18 just came out and deals with safety in the workplace and emergency management. CSA Z1600-17 which calls for companies to plan, do, check and act.

The key sections of Z1600 are: Scope, purpose & application; Reference publications; Definitions; Program management; Planning; Implementation; Program evaluation; Management review; and Annex A is on Guidance and Annex B is on conformity assessment tools.

He said that Program Management must have buy in from senior management, the program coordinator & program committee. Program Administration includes a program plan, policy, goals, objectives, integration, budget, records management and review. The elements of the Risk Assessment Procedure are to identify hazards, assess risks and implement risk control. Mike ended the presentation with a suggestion of using the term “Residual Risk” rather than Acceptable Risk.

David Clarke of FESTI made a presentation on the Incident Command System (ICS). He outlined the history of ICS. David explained why it is important to have an Incident Command System and it is necessary to correct communications first.

ICS is used to manage incidents and events. It is scalable where is can change size, type and complexity. ICS uses only 3 to 7 subordinates within a manager’s span of control. The unified command needs a commander, fire chief, police, transport, paramedic, and is some cases a provincial/state regulator. There is a need to use company experts (i.e., responsible agency/company) and emergency services.

David outlined the role of some of the key ICS command staff including: the Incident Commander oversees the incident; Safety Officer; Public Information Officer; and Liaison Officer.

The Operations roles are for the doers. They have expertise to deal with the incident and to contribute to strategies and tactics. The Planning of the incident response is done through the Incident Command Action Plan which can be changed on the fly as needed. Planning contains Resource, Situation, Document and Demobilization Units. The Logistics section includes units for: communications, medical, food, supply, facilities and ground support. David concluded saying that the Finance and Administration components include incident costs, financial considerations and procurement. Field Implementation includes preparedness, response recovery and mitigation.