ProACTIVE Planning meets with the CER to share their solutions for pipeline operators

Last month, ProACTIVE Planning was privileged to be invited by the Canada Energy Regulator to present to their Safety & Security Community of Practice.
 
The CER and Damage Prevention organizations alike have expressed a continued concern for the lack of awareness on issues of land use planning in the vicinity of pipeline systems, and ProACTIVE was excited to share its solutions and experience working with clients who have made addressing these issues an operational commitment.
 
“For us, it’s really happy news that we get to share with the CER”, says Mike Sullivan of ProACTIVE. “It’s an opportunity to speak one-on-one with an actively engaged regulator that worked on Z663 and show them how ProACTIVE has built the best land use monitoring tool in Canada. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved! And more so, we’re excited about how we can improve the industry as a whole. That has always been the end goal”.
 
ProACTIVE’s goal is to have all primary CER regulated companies equipped with its services by the end of Q4 2021. “It’s not a lofty goal”, Mike adds. “Land use monitoring is an ongoing, everyday area of operations where the transmission pipeline industry relies heavily on manpower and it’s challenging at the best of times. ProACTIVE Planning eliminates those struggles and delivers certainty 100% of the time.”

In their presentation, ProACTIVE gave an overview of the issues surrounding land use planning in the vicinity of pipelines, and how all stakeholders in the equation share a collective responsibility to improve communication, strategies and processes to address these issues. Blaise Fontaine, ProACTIVE’s Director of Engagement, also explored  concepts of “stakeholder psychology” and how classic approaches to engagement with municipalities can fall short for the widespread adoption of Z663.

Blaise Fontaine and Russ Leedham, presenting to the CER
January 2020,

“For Z663, it’s about recalibrating what we already think we do so well. We’re always ‘informing’, but how often are we actually educating our stakeholders and taking the appropriate amount of time and care to ensure that they are getting what they need to be successful in the implementation of Z663. At ProACTIVE, we emphasize creating mutual benefits for our stakeholders and our clients, and going beyond the status quo when it comes to implementing Z663 across the industry, and municipalities across Canada.” – Blaise Fontaine
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The CER’s Shannon Neufeld, Technical Leader of Damage Prevention, was also on the Technical Committee for CSA Z663-18 and believes “the fundamental principles in this standard, which aims to prevent damage through early and ongoing communication and good land use planning near pipelines, is critically important for the safety of Canadians and the optimization of land use in our communities.”

​It was such an opportunity to be able to share our best practices with some of the most passionate and knowledgeable people in pipeline integrity, damage prevention, and regulatory governance.

As ProACTIVE enters into its second year of operation, we have been overwhelmed by the positive reception from industry, municipalities, our clients, and organizational stakeholders. Any time there is an opportunity to share our work and our implementation techniques for Z663, we’ll be there in a heartbeat!
 
If your organization or municipality is interested in hosting a free CSA Z663 educational session with ProACTIVE Planning, please contact us at [email protected]