Protecting workers exposed to ground hazards through enhanced hazard identification and management tools

ABSTRACT: Industries, like the oil sands, see the importance of decreasing injuries on work sites and use tools like the Field Level Hazard Assessment to visually identify hazards that are known and visible, manage risks, and determine appropriate actions to ensure safe conditions. A challenge lies in some workplaces, including oil sands tailings storage and transport facilities where unexpected ground hazards exist making them invisible to workers that have not been trained to identify or mitigate ground hazards. Oil sands tailings site visits, tailings safety expert hazard inventories, interviews with workers and company incident databases are being analyzed to determine similarities and differences in the recognition and prevalence of ground hazards. These findings will be used to develop risk communication tools to inform frontline workers of potential ground hazards in their working environment.