Keeping people safe

Company-wide and site-specific contingency planning is designed to prepare our people, offices, and facilities for emergencies. By ensuring the safety of our team and surrounding communities, we contribute to our plants’ ability to operate responsibly during and after an emergency.

Our contingency planning includes:

• Emergency Management Program, which includes:
  • Crisis Management, which engages our senior executive at times of crisis, when our operations, profitability, or reputation is at significant risk due to a real or perceived threat to our employees, the environment, the community, our contractors, our assets (offices, facilities and systems) and/or our industry and partners.
    
    A Crisis Management Plan was created and in 2013:
    • an audit was conducted of the Crisis Management Plan by an external auditor, resulting in a plan that provides better integration with site Emergency Response Plans
    • a virtual Crisis Management Centre communications exercise was conducted in conjunction with a provincial security exercise
  • Emergency Response includes activities, tasks, programs, and systems addressing all efforts to preserve life and protect property and the environment. In 2013:
  • audits of several plants’ Emergency Response Plans were conducted, and areas of improvement were identified. An action plan was developed and implemented.
  • Genesee Power Plant conducted an exercise to test the use of the new Genesee Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in response to a simulated emergency at Genesee. The emergency scenario required immediate information gathering/sharing and required coordination of the Genesee EOC and a simulated emergency site at Genesee. This exercise also provided an opportunity to practice utilizing the Incident Management System and Incident Command System during a simulated emergency at Genesee.
• Threat Response facilitates the orderly application of security measures for critical infrastructure facilities in response to changing threat alert levels.
• Disaster Recovery ensure strategies and plans are in place for the recovery of technology-based infrastructure and products.
• Business Continuity provides timely, targeted recovery of business critical services after life, health, safety, property and environment issues are resolved.

Testing our Emergency Preparedness — Genesee Emergency Response Exercise

As part of our continual focus on safety, it’s essential that we have solid emergency response plans in the event of an emergency.

On September 4, 2013, we undertook an emergency response drill at the Genesee Generating Station to:

• test our ability to safely evacuate the facility
• ensure our emergency response procedures are working
• ensure our employees are prepared and know how to respond in the event of an actual emergency situation

The drill was also an opportunity to test, refine, and improve emergency management processes over the short and long term.

The exercise involved over 200 staff including Capital Power’s own fire brigade, emergency response team, and medical responders, in addition to the RCMP and local fire and medical responders. In the case of an actual emergency, Genesee would require the assistance of external support resources. This exercise is an important test of the coordinated efforts between Capital Power’s operations at Genesee and the valuable first responders we rely on.

Capital Power completes a full-scale test of its emergency response plan involving emergency service providers every three years and practices its emergency response plan annually through tabletop exercises and drills to ensure adequacy.

Mandatory first aid training at our facilities

Our facilities have a legislated requirement to have a specific number of employees trained in first aid. The number of employees trained depends on total number of employees at each location. In 2013, 21 site-employees were trained in first aid. A large number of employees completed the training in 2012 and did not require further training in 2013.

First aid for employees and their families

In 2013, 13 participants completed free-of-charge first aid courses offered by Capital Power to employees and their family members.

Available first aid courses:

• Standard First Aid – Level C CPR & AED training for employees
• Emergency First Aid – Level A CPR & AED for families of employees in Alberta
• The Babysitter course to employees’ children in Alberta

First aid training helps a citizen in distress

Whether it’s in the workplace or the community, “zero means everything” is woven into the lives of Capital Power employees and their families. Brittni, a payroll clerk at Capital Power, is a stellar example.

When Brittni was shopping at a Walmart, a woman fell to the ground during an epileptic seizure. Although nervous, it didn’t take long for Brittni’s first aid training to kick in. She placed her jacket under the seizing woman’s head and proceeded to call 911, providing them with the "who, what, why, when, and where". Brittni remained with the woman until she became coherent and provided first aid care until the ambulance arrived.

“You never think you’re going to need to use it,” says the now two-time first aid responder; her first call-to-action was at fifteen, with her grandmother.

This “be prepared” mantra, along with the “karmic mentality of ‘What if I was the one who needed help?’” are the reasons why Brittni continues to keep her certification up-to-date.