U of R prof believes refinery lockout raises safety questions

Even at the best of times, the Co-op refinery isn’t the safest place to work.

There are the long-term risk from carcinogens, immediate risks from chemicals, and the always-present danger from the extremely combustible products produced by the plant.

A labour dispute isn’t the best of times and at least one academic is raising his voice, saying there should be more scrutiny at the plant during the lockout.

Sean Tucker is an assistant professor in the faculty of business administration at the University of Regina and he has been studying safety at the refinery for the past five years.

“It’s not business as usual during the dispute and therefore I think (for) the regulators, it would be important for them to have great oversight on the plant,” said Tucker.

The company locked out its unionized employees Dec. 5 after Unifor Local 594 issued strike notice.

Tucker said there are things happening at the plant during the lockout that could create safety problems: There are fewer workers, the replacement workers aren’t necessarily familiar with the plant and with each other, and there are temperature fluctuations outside that could affect operations.

Tucker noted that he’s saying these things and asking for more scrutiny, but that he hasn’t had any indication that there have been any problems.

There have been a few instances in the past two months that have been flagged on Unifor’s social media as potential safety issues. Unifor has been critical of the refinery from the beginning, saying using replacement workers poses safety risks.

On Jan. 20, there were larger-than-normal flares at the refinery. Co-op acknowledged the flares and said they happened because of power outages it attributed to problems with SaskPower.

You may have seen larger than normal flares at the Refinery last night. We experienced our 2nd power outage in 4 days. The outages are related to external issues on @SaskPower lines that feed the Refinery. We're working closely with @SaskPower to investigate the cause.

— Co-op Refinery (@CoopRefinery) January 21, 2020

On Feb. 2, there was a release of dust from the refinery. The union posted a video but the refinery didn’t acknowledge the incident on social media.

When @Unifor594 workers aren't locked out the refinery runs safely. Huge flares and harmful ash are not business as usual at the @CoopRefinery thanks to unqualified scabs. #skpoli #canlab #cdnlab pic.twitter.com/FL9FNUgUJS

— Unifor (@UniforTheUnion) February 2, 2020

Refinery spokesperson Brad DeLorey said the company has engaged a third party to determine what was in the release, as requested by the Ministry of Environment, but the company doesn’t have those results yet.

The regulators

While Tucker maintains this lockout isn’t “business as usual,” most of the regulators that oversee the refinery seem to be treating it as normal.

There are three bodies that oversee the refinery: The Ministry of Environment, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) under the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, and the Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan (TSASK).

TSASK hasn’t increased its scrutiny of the refinery during the labour dispute. The refinery has its own workers do the inspections in this case and TSASK audits and oversees them.

According to TSASK chief inspector Chris Selinger, there have been verifications that the inspections are still being done, and the body checked in on the refinery’s plans for turnaround, but nothing extra has been done or put in place since the lockout began.

Selinger said it appears the refinery has been able to meet its obligations and there haven’t been any concerns reported, so the body doesn’t see the need for more surveillance.

OHS is working on its normal inspection schedule of about every six weeks.

The ministry wouldn’t provide anyone for an interview, but it said in a statement the frequency of inspector visits is determined by the accident rate of the refinery and if there are any concerns reported to the ministry from workers or the organization.

“OHS has not been notified of any incidents or injuries, or been contacted by workers currently in the Co-op Refinery Complex about concerns that would require an additional worksite visit,” read the statement.

The last inspection happened Jan. 14, and the ministry said the inspectors found the people on site at the time had the necessary training and were working “competently and safely.”

As for the Ministry of Environment, it has performed two inspections at the refinery since the lockout began, which is an increase from the two inspections per year which would normally be done, according a statement from that ministry.

The first inspection was done in January, and then a second two-day inspection was conducted about a week after the Feb. 2 release happened. That incident was reported to the ministry’s spill control centre.

The ministry expects another inspection to happen next month.

The ministry did note that results from the ambient air monitoring stations in Regina haven’t shown any notable increases since the release.

Waiting on complaints

Much of the framework that would trigger more inspections or scrutiny from the regulators is predicated on receiving complaints from people at the refinery, but Tucker doesn’t think that’s a mechanism that’s going to work in this situation.

“The refinery is certainly controlling the message around public health and occupational health and safety. And the folks who are working in there, working long shifts, they have a non-disclosure agreement and they’re paid a lot, so they’re not likely to reach out to a regulator if they have concerns,” explained Tucker.

He said that locked-out workers are very reluctant to talk about safety inside the refinery, so he thinks it can be assumed that those working inside would be even more reluctant to speak out.

Tucker said he has confidence in the regulators to ensure compliance, but he wants to see more presence at the site — weekly on average — along with unannounced visits as well. And he said the increased scrutiny should continue after a deal is eventually reached.

“It’s likely to be tense for a while there and, in a safety sense in a plant environment, you want people to be talking with each other. If they’re not and people aren’t compliant with the regulations, the regulator has a role there in ensuring compliance,” he said.

DeLorey said the company is proud of its safety record and noted there haven’t been any reported injuries since the lockout began. He said the regulators are always welcome at the site.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of the story, with a corrected headline and the correct name of the TSASK chief inspector.