Safety First: 2023 Becomes Veren's Safest Year on Record

Safety is Veren's first priority and the company prides itself on its strong safety records. Veren is pleased to report that 2023 was the company's safest on record.

"The safety of our employees and our communities remains paramount," said President and CEO, Craig Bryksa. Without everyone’s commitment to safe operations, we would not have been able to reach this milestone.”

Veren’s remarkable safety performance in 2023 was attributed to the dedicated efforts of all its employees, contractors and community members. Highlights of this outstanding performance include a 26% decline in total recordable injury rates, a 43% reduction in lost time injury rate, and zero serious injuries throughout the year.

To achieve a milestone like this, open communication and a continued emphasis on safety in all aspects of the business is required. The company draws on four key internal safety programs to remind employees to stay safe:

The Refocus, Reconnect, Recharge (3Rs) campaign encourages workers to work together as a team to identify and mitigate safety risks. It specifically encourages employees to look for hazards and call out unsafe acts. It also encourages taking the time to recharge if people feel they need to by taking proper breaks after doing intensive activity and monitoring fatigue levels, especially during the extreme weather conditions.

The Get a Grip on Safety program takes learnings from historical trips, slips and fall incidents and focuses on prevention during the winter months and ensuring safety while doing tasks at height. Workers are encouraged to notify their supervisors If they do not have the proper equipment to perform tasks. The use of handrails where available and ensuring ground conditions are safe before performing tasks is an integral part of the behaviors encouraged in the program. Road safety and ensuring vehicles are prepared for the conditions is also part of this program.

The Stop and Think campaign encourages employees and contractors to take certain steps before performing tasks, these include critical observation of workspace and risk identification. Furthermore, employees and contractors are to assess and put in place controls for the identified risks and are to hold off on performing their tasks until they are confident the work environment feels safe.  

Hand on the Shoulder campaign promotes mentoring and coaching among workers through task observations. This campaign is also utilized as intervention for unsafe acts or conditions and can serve as an educational opportunity for everyone to reinforce our expectations around safe operations.

“A safe organization requires the collective efforts of all our staff. I’d like to thank everyone, especially our field workers, for their contributions in helping our organization achieve terrific safety results in 2023 and a strong safety culture throughout the company. I hope our 2024 safety results are even better," said Bryksa.

It has indeed been a team effort across the entire organization, with people coming together and understanding the common goals to overcome barriers on site to improve safety procedures.