Sheelagh Whittaker, who used to run EDS Canada and now runs EDS businesses in Australia, is an Imperial Oil board member. She gave a presentation about the company's environmental and safety record.
“Imperial understands that the work it performs involves an element of risk … Last year was the safest the company has ever recorded. The rate of work-related injuries … was the lowest on record. Imperial's employee injury rate has improved four-fold over the last 20 years.”
She says contractors, though, get injured at a much higher rate than employees. Imperial wants to reduce that injury rate among contractors.
“Imperial's goal is nobody gets hurt.”
“Imperials safety record is among the best in the industry.” Who has the best record?
The boundary Lake Facility has not had a lost-time incident in the last 38 years. 11 Imperial Oil facilities had no work-related incidents last year.
— Note to self: [see photo] All the directors are sitting in a row on stage here. It is a row of white guys with one exception — Sheelagh. It's an odd sight in this day and age when we expect the governing bodies of our institutions to reflect the cultural makeup of the group — in this case shareholders — that they represent.
Last year Imperial completed a $600-million project to produce low-sulphur gasoline. Low-sulphur gasoline helps reduce emissions from autos.
Oil companies are large consumers of energy. Company says it co-generation strategy is reducing greenhouse gases.
Whittaker also talked about site remediation, a huge job for an oil company. You have to clean up old gas station sites, oil wells, and other used-up facilities. Imperial spent $90-million in 2003 on site remediation.