A technician adjusts his ear protection before entering an area on the Buzzard production deck that requires personal protective equipment (PPE).

Promoting Healthy Work Environments

At Nexen, we’re committed to anticipating, recognizing, evaluating and controlling workplace environmental health hazards that may cause illness or impair the well-being of our employees, contractors or the community members who live or work near our operations.

Occupational Health

We’ve developed an occupational health management system that works to promote healthy work environments, protect the health and well-being of employees and prevent occupational injuries and illnesses. This system assesses and manages:

  • individual health risks
  • work environment health risks
  • any organizational health issues that may pose a risk to our business (i.e. transmittable diseases)

Industrial Hygiene

We’ve also established an industrial hygiene management system that anticipates, recognizes, evaluates and controls workplace environmental health hazards or stressors. The components of this program include:

  • hazard identification
  • risk evaluation
  • hazard monitoring
  • control plan development and implementation
  • employee training
  • evaluation of controls

Performance

Nexen uses industry best practices to meet our regulatory obligations with respect to occupational health and industrial hygiene. As part of that commitment, we took the following actions in 2012:

  • Updated our Occupational Health & Industrial Hygiene Manual to comply with new regulations and industry good practice;
  • Integrated the Occupational Health & Industrial Hygiene Management System into Nexen’s audit tool to evaluate the effectiveness of our Health, Safety, Environment & Social Responsibility programs;
  • Introduced revised standards such as the fitness for work program, which evaluates new employees or employees transferring or relocating to new positions, to ensure they are physically and psychologically ready.

Growing recognition of the importance of a healthy workplace as a driver of business benefits — including an improved safety culture and fewer incidents — is leading Nexen to concentrate more closely on mental health. In 2013, Nexen plans to introduce a supervisory training package that will enable managers to better identify and manage mental health issues among their teams.

Wellness is important to Nexen:

  • We’re constructing a new fitness facility at our Calgary office, expected to open in June 2013, with a variety of strength-training and cardio equipment, plus rooms for yoga, pilates and massage.
  • We provide a physical wellness subsidy for employees that can be used towards gym memberships, fitness dues, nutritional counselling and smoking cessation.
  • When employees need support, there is a comprehensive Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) that provides confidential counselling to employees and their dependents in our locations.
  • Employees have access to free (and healthy!) snacks; in Canada we provide emergency child care; and in the UK we have a cycle to work program.

Learn more about other programs and rewards we offer employees at Nexen.