Indo Canadian News News That Matters
The construction on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project is on a temporary shut down for the next two weeks as the project assesses recent safety deficiencies.
In a statement released on Thursday night (Dec 17), Trans Mountain said it would implement a voluntary project-wide safety measure in effect from December 18, 2020 until January 4, 2021.
Mr. Ian Anderson, president and CEO of Trans Mountain, said in during official release that over the past couple of months, they have seen unacceptable safety incidents on the work places. It runs counter to the proud safety culture of Trans Mountain.
The statement did not specify which security incidents were involved, but the Canadian Energy Regulator states that a contractor was seriously injured on Tuesday afternoon (Dec 15) at a Trans Mountain construction site in British Columbia. An ongoing investigation is underway that will make it possible to assess risk and potential non-compliance.
A worker was killed when he was working on the pipeline in Edmonton in October. Samatar Sahal, age 40, was struck and killed by a piece of hardware. He worked with SA Energy Group, as a general contractor engaged in the construction of portions of the pipeline.
Mr. Ian Anderson has stated that Trans Mountain is actively taking steps to temporarily suspend the construction of the expansion project in order to review, reset and re-adjust its efforts as well as those of its contractors and workers.
Work on the Trans Mountain expansion has intensified in the Edmonton area and throughout British Columbia. The Crown Corporation said in its statement on Thursday (Dec 17) that the 20 per cent of the pipeline is complete, to the date. The project will experience a construction peak in 2021, and during the period when one of the biggest risks for the project becomes worker’s safety.
In 2018, the federal government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline and its expansion project at the cost of CA$ 4.4 billion. Furthermore, the doubling of the Alberta-British Columbia line is expected to cost CA$ 12.6 billion.
Upon completion of the Trans Mountain expansion, the capacity of the pipelines will be increased from approx 300,000 to 890,000 barrels per day. Trans Mountain stated on Thursday that it remains determined to secure, timely and effective completion of the project.
