environment
managing environmental risk
“Environmentally responsible initiatives such as the eTree program highlight TELUS’ commitment to making the future friendly. TELUS is proud to be a part of such an innovative program that our shareholders have overwhelmingly embraced.”
Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO
Environmental site assessments – Our normal business operation generates environmental risk from such things as back-up power generating systems, fire suppression systems and contaminated property remediation. We direct our efforts based on the probability of risk (the type and age of infrastructure) and the potential severity of impact.
To assess and monitor risk, we conduct regular site assessments. Of the more than 3,500 sites owned or leased by TELUS, 337 assessments were completed in 2005 by TELUS field team members or environmental advisors. Twenty-one per cent of our 62 high-risk sites were assessed. These assessments were comprised of 11 categories of environmental risk, including generators, batteries, pole storage and chemicals, based on federal and provincial legislation, accepted industry practice and our own management practices. The number is significantly below our target because of the labour disruption, changes to the environment team, and a complete overhaul of the internal database used to track site risks.
Spills, releases and effluent – We train our team members to report all spills and releases to our 24-hour network operations centre (NOC). Working with the NOC, our environment team ensures spills are reported to regulators as required, within the appropriate timeframe, and investigates the root causes of all spills. In 2005, spills we experienced were either not reportable, or were reported to government agencies within the appropriate timeframe. Overall, the number of spills decreased in 2005, however, the volume of spills increased, due mainly to a relatively large (1,500 litres) release of diesel from a remote mountain top site. The failure of the fuel system in question was partially mitigated by containment measures in place, such as electronic monitoring and fuel shut off.
We initiated a spill response process for Quebec operations in 2004, which was formalized in 2005. This has contributed to the year-over-year increase in the total reportable spills since all spills in Quebec are reportable. We will look to ensure a similar system is in place for our wireless operations in 2006.
Because of the nature of our business, we have no effluent other than domestic wastewater, which is common to all companies.
Chemical management – TELUS uses numerous chemical products and/or hazardous materials in day-to-day operations. These include cleaning products, compressed gases and lubricants, asbestos insulation, lead in batteries and beryllium in old radio equipment. We manage the risk to workers posed by these chemicals through Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS) and transportation of dangerous goods (TDG) training, as well as education on material safety data sheet (MSDS) retrieval. We also publish policies related to proper handling of many hazardous compounds on our internal website.
Our chemical management process was reviewed in 2004, and an overhaul initiated in 2005. Changes include use of a web-based service from an external provider for MSDS management, which will provide access to more than 1.5 million MSDS. This will be rolled out in conjunction with the development of a list of chemicals approved for use at TELUS sites and a modification of the chemical inventory process to a statistical sampling basis. The new process will be fully implemented in 2006.
TELUS has a chemical disposal process at most facilities. Yellow bins specifically designed for chemical disposal are used and the final disposal is done by personnel certified in hazardous waste handling to ensure the materials are processed appropriately. All hazardous wastes generated by TELUS are recycled, re-used or disposed of at licensed facilities.