South Bow’s goal is to safely operate our pipeline and energy facilities so that the public, our workforce and the environment aren’t affected by an incident involving our assets. Safety is, and always will be, our highest priority.
Staying prepared takes teamwork, coordination and an effective response plan. A key component of preparedness means we regularly conduct emergency management program exercises across our network. These simulations allow our personnel to work with local first-responders to hone our skills and develop communications protocols in the unlikely event of a serious incident.
These exercises help us develop strong relationships within our communities while ensuring we all understand each other’s roles and responsibilities.
We continuously strive to operate safely. While incidents are rare, being prepared to respond safely and rapidly is something we train for year-round.
Our priorities are always the safety of the public, landowners, first responders, employees and contractors, and the environment. Our robust response plans are focused on quickly and effectively responding to emergencies and mitigating any impacts that may have occurred to public safety, property or the environment.
Although we consult emergency services during the development of our Emergency Response Plans, we encourage communities to review these documents to better understand the South Bow Emergency Management Program.
Across North America, we work with emergency responders in the communities we do business in to help in case of an emergency.
Host a safety town hall meeting in conjunction with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, South Bow and industry representatives. Email the IAFC for more information.
Access online training on pipeline emergency response through the National Association of State Fire Marshals’ emergency responders’ portal.
Self-paced, online emergency response training is available through the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
The only professional organization solely focused on 9-1-1 policy, technology, operations, and education issues.
The POSP is committed to building partnerships between pipeline operators and emergency responders.
Our ongoing Planned Maintenance and Pipeline Integrity Management programs include regular maintenance, routine aerial patrols, ground surveys, cathodic protection against corrosion, monitoring by trained operators 24 hours a day and internal inspections using devices like Smart Pigs.
Every year, we spend hundreds of millions on integrity and preventative maintenance programs to ensure the safe, reliable operations of our systems.
We monitor our pipeline system through centralized high-tech Control Centres, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Our Control Centres have highly specialized staff that run our liquids and gas pipeline networks and ensure the systems are operating as they are designed to.
As an additional precaution, our oil control centre has a leak detection specialist who is fully dedicated to looking for signs of a leak or an issue with how the pipeline is operating.
Control Centres monitor pipelines 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to ensure they run safely and efficiently. The control centres include an operational control system, a leak detection system and a satellite communication network.
Our state-of-the-art Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and our specialized oil leak detection systems, along with elevated safety features and specialized staff training employed on our liquids pipelines make us confident leaks can be quickly identified and responded to. These features include:
We would respond immediately by shutting down and isolating the pipeline systems and/or shutting down the pump stations and dispatching emergency response personnel. The main focus of the initial response would be to stop operating the pump units in order to reduce the flow through that particular segment of pipe and then close isolation valves in the vicinity of the leak to limit its impact.
In the very unlikely event that a leak occurs, our company would take full responsibility for the emergency response and cleanup for as long as we own and operate the pipeline.
We create Emergency Response Plans for every pipeline and project in our system. These plans must be in place before the pipeline ever goes into operation. While plans may vary depending on project and community needs, the basic elements of a plan will include hazard identification, notifications and response tactics to ensure South Bow personnel are able to effectively respond in the event of an emergency.
All our Emergency Response Plans are developed through a detailed and comprehensive program specific to the project and communities in which we operate. This includes gathering necessary and important feedback from local communities and emergency responders during the planning stages.
We have emergency response personnel on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These emergency responders consist of employees and contract personnel who specialize in emergency response. The local police and fire departments may be involved to protect the public and ensure our personnel are able to work safely.
Yes, our company provides awareness training about responding to a pipeline incident. We view the communities we operate in as emergency response partners. We work collaboratively with these stakeholders on a continuous basis, inviting them to participate in exercises and training. South Bow does not expect volunteer or dedicated local fire departments to have the equipment or specific experience needed to respond to a leak or rupture.
In all circumstances, we take full responsibility for emergency response and cleanup for any of the pipelines that we own and operate.