By: Darcy Stratmoen and Tanya Borthwick
When industry wants the public to be aware of its operations and provide a mechanism for the public to communicate with the industry operator, company representatives knock on doors to conduct a public awareness program.
A good public awareness program is designed to provide informative information about safety and emergency response procedures for those living and working near oil and gas facilities.
During the public consultation process, we spend time with each stakeholder impacted by a project or who are within an Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) to provide information about the operations and ensure that each stakeholder has the opportunity to ask questions specific to the project.
An effective public awareness program provides clarity to affected stakeholders about:
Successful public consultation programs engage affected residents to ensure they are part of the emergency preparedness program through an open consultation process.
In order to gather and maintain accurate emergency preparedness information, it’s important to collaborate with:
Communication needs to be open, respectful and responsible to the needs of each community. Consultation approaches can include:
A report should always be completed for quick and easy access to information.
Our public consultation expert will come to your house, during the daytime and/or evening to try and meet up with you when you’re home. He will identify himself as working for Black Gold Emergency Planners on behalf of a contracting company. He is at your house or place of business to provide you with as much information as you want regarding the operations in your area.
He’ll bring with him a Resident Package that contains:
Our public consultation expert go over the contents of the resident package with you to ensure you understand the contents and are confident you know who to call in the event of an emergency and know what to do to keep yourself and your family safe.
In addition to engaging residents, it’s equally as important to work with local authorities and government agencies on a continuous basis to notify them of operations and to consult and coordinate with them regarding their roles and responsibilities. This collaboration is essential for effective emergency response plan development and execution.
Ground truthing is done on site, we drive around the impacted area (EPZ) and perform surface observations and measurements of various features. Using GPS technology, we gather geographic coordinates and relay that information back to our mapping department to incorporate in your ERP.
We find the best way to determine the location and altitude of homes, businesses and public facilities that could be impacted by an emergency event with pinpoint accuracy is to use global positioning technology. By using this technology, we can download waypoints, routes and tracks so that your maps are accurate and complete.
Black Gold will work with your needs to ensure all residents are consulted and informed about your operations in the area and keep you compliant with the regulations.
Want to ensure your company is engaging effectively with community and government stakeholders? Black Gold can help to ensure all residents are consulted and informed about your operations in the area and keep you compliant with the regulations.
