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The Enbridge Ring: A lasting symbol of our commitment to safety

Published: July 26, 2020

Specially designed ring is a constant, sobering reminder of our duties and responsibilities

It is lasting, strong, and solid, like the company values it represents.

It is also a sobering reminder of Enbridge’s past missteps, and a symbol of the journey we’re taking toward our goal of 100% safety.

It’s the Enbridge Ring—and since its introduction in 2011, it’s been presented to every new permanent employee across our North American enterprise, as it will be in perpetuity.

Enbridge exists to fuel people’s quality of life, and the Enbridge Ring is a constant reminder of our duty to earn the trust and protect the safety of all those who count on Enbridge to deliver energy safely and reliably.

“To me, the ring concept says I’m a part of an organization that isn’t looking for absolution for its mistakes, but accepts accountability for them,” says Candice, who joined Enbridge’s community engagement team in March, and is based in Bay City, Michigan.

We developed the Enbridge Ring in late 2010 and early 2011 with the help of artist and jeweler Jeff DeBoer.

Every single employee ring contains steel from Line 6B (now Line 78), the Enbridge pipeline at the center of the Marshall, Michigan incident of July 2010. The steel has been cleaned, sandblasted, heated, rolled and shaped to match the curve of the rings.

And while these rings contain Line 6B steel, they memorialize more than the Marshall incident of 10 years ago—they also mark our firm commitment to safety and the protection of the public and the environment.

“I wasn’t an Enbridge employee during the Marshall incident, but by taking on a role with this organization I’ve committed myself to understanding its impact—and doing my part to help prevent such an incident from ever happening again,” says Candice.

The Marshall incident is etched on our DNA. The lessons we learned at Marshall have formed the foundation of our safety culture, made a lasting impact on how we operate, and ultimately made us a safer company:

  • From 2011 through 2019, inclusive, we invested a total of more than $8.4 billion on programs that help us maintain the fitness of our systems across North America.
  • In that same time frame, we’ve conducted an average of 2,100 preventative maintenance digs and 275 inline inspections per year on our North American pipeline network, activities that allow us to monitor both the interior and exterior of our pipes.
  • From 2012 through 2019, inclusive, we’ve participated in an average of 339 full-scale exercises, drills and equipment deployment events across our company each year to test and hone our readiness in the event of an incident.

The design of the Enbridge Ring, with a working hinge and solid brass dial and bolt, represents the active role that every one of our employees plays in helping to transport, distribute, and generate energy safely and reliably.

Candice saw Enbridge’s safety culture in action earlier this year, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America.

“Our teams worked tirelessly to draft and disseminate pandemic plans not only for remote workers like myself, but for essential field staff doing pipeline maintenance and installation,” she says. “Enbridge also provided me the support I needed—without red tape or bottlenecks—to ensure medical staff and first responders in my communities received PPE and meals from local restaurants as they worked around the clock to flatten the Coronavirus curve.

“That just reaffirmed for me that I’m on the winning team.”

Since July 2011, a working sculpture of the Enbridge Ring, weighing about 100 pounds and measuring 18 inches in diameter, has been installed in the main lobby of Enbridge’s head office in Calgary, Canada.

Ultimately, the Enbridge Ring is symbolic of our personal commitment to safety and integrity—every day—in word, thought and deed.

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