Health, Safety & Environmental Performance

Operators are required to report incidents and events to us that occur on any marine installation or structure, passenger craft, vessel or aircraft in the course of conducting any work or activity related to an authorization. View our quarterly reports below.

Please note that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board became the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator on January 31, 2025. Decisions made prior to this date will reference the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).

Any discharge of petroleum (including but not limited to crude oil, natural gas, condensate, lubricants, hydraulic oils, fuels, petroleum based synthetic drilling fluids, or any other refined petroleum product) that enters the sea in the offshore area as a result of petroleum-related activities, other than one that is authorized under the Accord Acts or the regulations must be reported as a spill. View Spills to the Sea reports below.

Please note that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board became the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator on January 31, 2025. Decisions made prior to this date will reference the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).

View our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines for more details.

An unauthorized discharge is when a substance or mixture is discharged from a petroleum-related production or drilling installation in an amount or at a concentration in excess of the limits described in a operator’s Environmental Protection Plan, or the substance or the manner of discharge is not described in that plan. View Unauthorized Discharge reports here.

Please note that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board became the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator on January 31, 2025. Decisions made prior to this date will reference the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).

View our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines for more details.

While the reporting of petroleum-related unauthorized discharges to us and investigation of them where necessary, has always been a requirement, we began posting this information as of November of 2017.

We developed Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines to assist operators and other workplace parties in understanding how to meet the regulatory requirements and to describe exactly what our expectations are.

For all reportable incidents, we verify that operators have taken the appropriate actions to determine the cause of the incident and to prevent future incidents from happening. We review available information to determine trends, common themes and to identify specific areas for improvements as required.

Our Safety Officers, specializing in occupational health and safety and operational safety, and our Conservation Officers, specializing in environmental protection, may also conduct an independent investigation into health, safety and environmental incidents that occur at offshore worksites, depending on the nature and severity of the incident.

Learn more about how operators report incidents and events to us below. Details about our expectations are outlined in our Incident Reporting and Investigations Guidelines.
 

Please note that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board became the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator on January 31, 2025. Decisions made prior to this date will reference the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).

Immediate Verbal Notification

Operators must contact our on-call Duty Officer for incidents or events that require immediate verbal notification. A description of these types of incidents or events that require an immediate verbal notification can be found in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines.

Written Notification

Operators are required to provide written notification to us as soon as circumstances permit, but not later than 24 hours after becoming aware of an incident. Additional information on the classification of incidents and other reportable events, can be found in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines.

Operators should use our written notification form when reporting an incident.

Written notifications can be submitted by email at incident@cnsoer.ca.
 

The regulations require operators to complete Incident Investigation Reports and submit them to us within a defined period of time.

Incident investigation reports must identify the causal factors, root cause(s) and actions to prevent reoccurrence. The report must be submitted to us no later than 14 days following the incident. 

We have a standard Incident Summary Form, which should be submitted in conjunction with the Investigation Report.

The Incident Summary and Investigation Report may be submitted electronically at incident@cnsoer.ca.

Additional information is available in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines and the Guideline for the Framework Regulations.
 

Operators should submit statistics on injuries and occupational illnesses to us on a quarterly basis.

Operators should submit a quarterly statistics report within 15 days of the end of each quarter. The report should contain a statistical summary of exposure hours, occupational injuries/illnesses and lost/restricted workdays that occurred during the quarter.

We have a standard Quarterly Statistics Report which should be completed by an operator.

The report may be submitted by email at incident@cnsoer.ca.

Additional information is available in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines and Guideline for the Framework Regulations. 
 

Operators are required to submit Safety and Environmental Reports to us yearly.

Safety Reports

Operators are required to submit a Safety Report 90 days after the day on which their work or activity is concluded or suspended, or by March 31 of each year in cases where the work or activity will continue into the following calendar year.

Additional information on the required content for the Safety Report is available in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines and in our Guideline for the Framework Regulations.

The report should be submitted by email at incident@cnsoer.ca.

Environmental Reports

Operators are required to submit an annual Environmental Report for production and pipeline projects by March 31 of each year.  For shorter-term activities (e.g. drilling, geoscientific, geotechnical, and environmental programs), an Environmental Report must be submitted 90 days after the day on which their work or activity is concluded or suspended.

Additional information on the required content for the Environmental Report is available in our Incident Reporting and Investigation Guidelines and in our Guideline for the Framework Regulations.

The report should be submitted to us by email at incident@cnsoer.ca.