Risk communication in Athabasca oil sands tailings operations

Abstract

Oil sands operations involve many working groups, which can result in communication silos that make effective risk communication challenging. Workers are also directly at risk when they encounter conditions that contain hazards they are not equipped to identify and control. This is illustrated by fatalities in the oil sands related to unseen ground hazards at tailings storage and transport facilities. This research asked how gaps in communication between different working groups can be identified and how information about risks can be effectively disseminated to workers who interact with these facilities. Using ground hazards as a case study, we analyzed four datasets to identify areas for enhanced risk communication. The aim was to determine the hazards that workers see on the job site and compare their responses to tailings safety experts, geotechnical analysis, and recorded incidents. This will allow for the design of effective risk communication strategies at oil sands tailings operations. Traditional risk communication principles to disseminate information to external stakeholders will be applied to an internal audience of workers in tailings operations. The aim is to enhance the dialogue regarding risks across the organization. This will be done by increasing the knowledge and understanding of ground hazards in oil sands tailings operations, resulting in the invisible becoming seen and the risk tolerance among workers being lowered.