Safety & Operations
At SJI, safety is a core value.
We aim to conduct business in a manner that protects and sustains the safety and well-being of our customers, employees and the communities we serve.
Safety Policy Summary
Safety is a core value at SJI and an integral part of our corporate culture and Collective Ambition. Every day we work to make our activities safe so they do not negatively affect the physical or mental well-being of our employees, contractors, and the communities we serve. We strive to Make Every Day A Safe Day. SJI has developed a Safety Compliance Manual to promote health and safety in the workplace. This safety manual, and the policies and programs contained, applies to all SJI facilities and operations. At the center of our Make Every Day A Safe Day culture is SJI’s Safety Management System (SMS). The SMS promotes pipeline integrity, safety, and environmental protection. All employees are expected to participate in the continuous improvement of the SMS by reporting safety concerns, sharing their ideas for improvements, communicating changes to the system following the incorporated changes into the management of change process (MOC) and being a champion for safety. The role of supervisors and managers is to assess, evaluate, and apply established policies and programs vertically down through the organization to daily operations.
Employees are strongly encouraged to engage in safety meetings and are supported by the organization in facilitating a culture of continuous improvement of the health and safety program. The objective for top management is to demonstrate a commitment to risk reduction and hazard elimination by implementing policies and programs, establishing goals, communicating the importance of safe behaviors, and holding employees accountable for adhering to SJI’s safety manual. Any violation of the safety policy may result in disciplinary action, up to and potentially including termination. Corrective actions may include retraining on parts or all of the Safety Manual.
Safety
At SJI, we strive to make every day a safe day.
There is no greater responsibility than ensuring every employee gets home safe every day. During 2021 we continued to review our operations and construction activities, track and report on compliance items and deliver ongoing Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) training.
Our safety efforts and initiatives in 2021 contributed to results that had South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas achieve 1st Quartile performance among American Gas Association members. In addition, the performance led to recognition by the American Gas Association, which issued both entities “Industry Leader Accident Prevention” safety awards. Combined, South Jersey Gas and Elizabethtown Gas had a DART rate of 0.45 compared to a rate of 1.49 average from other local distribution companies.
The following safety resources are available to employees:
Safety Talking Points
Members of the Safety Department prepare and distribute communications for leaders to review with their teams. These strategic communications promote safety education, risk reduction, and continuous improvement. Each communication presents a focused topic that incorporates a high-level overview, steps to reduce the risk, and how it applies to the work environment. Topics are selected to meet compliance requirements, reviews of internal and external incidents and near misses, along with general incident prevention.
Family Safety & Health
This is a quarterly magazine featuring information focused on safety for on and off the job. Part of the safety culture improvement plan has been to focus on overall safety for employees while both at work and at home. This magazine is intended to strengthen our culture by reinforcing that safety is not just a benefit at work but for our families as well.
Monthly Safety News
Our monthly employee newsletter, One SJI, includes a standing safety section to celebrate safety successes and milestones, remind employees about key safety learnings and strengthen our safety culture.
MySafeWorkplace®
A confidential and anonymous communication resource for employees to voice workplace safety and conduct concerns.
IT Security Training
A training program for all employees on cybersecurity risks using training modules to protect employees and the organization from potential threats.
Motor Vehicle Safety
Company vehicles are equipped with tracking devices which provide telemetric data utilized to calculate driver safety scorecards. A driver’s safety score is developed using key data such as seat belt usage, speeding, harsh cornering, harsh braking, and harsh accelerating. This data is reviewed regularly and used to develop training and communication materials. In 2021, these efforts resulted in driver safety scores improving from 96.2% to 98.2%
Safety Ergonomics Training
Resources and a training program offered to all employees to help them learn and implement better workplace ergonomics and reduce the risk of injury
Triage Medical Services
Employees have access to a free, confidential support line after experiencing an ache, having pain, or having an incident on the job. This "fast-access" triage process provides early symptom intervention, includes virtual appointments as appropriate, and results in quicker, personalized response. Our utilities take an aggressive, proactive approach to maintain safe operations. Our company officers make annual visits to all divisional offices to discuss safety performance and reinforce safety as an SJI core value. Our goal remains to minimize risks and promote a zero-injury culture. This comprehensive effort includes infrastructure modernization, as well as ongoing testing and emergency response planning.
Emergency Response Preparation
At SJI, safety is our top priority.
To keep our customers and communities safe, we must ensure our utility crews are prepared for any emergency. Safety drills are the best way to prepare our dedicated crews.
In 2021, our Emergency Preparedness Department completed several comprehensive safety exercises. Employees addressed scenarios simulating various gas leak emergency situations, including:
- A third party damage on a pipeline in the SJG Glassboro Division in Gloucester County and another in the SJG Cape May Division in Cape May County.
- A large coastal storm affecting the entire state of New Jersey but specifically the SJG Cumberland Division in Cumberland County where a dam breach was exercised. An exercise simulating an explosion in an ETG Gate Station in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County.
- A joint drill between SJG and ETG where the large scale coastal storm was expanded upon to include several operational areas throughout both companies. The final drill of the year was held in ETG Northwest Division in Warren County where an accident impacted company facilities.
All of our comprehensive drills require coordination and cooperation between multiple departments, including Operations, Construction, Dispatch, Safety, Government Affairs, Internal and External Communications, Crisis Management/Incident Support Team and others as necessary. In addition, exercises were performed with various external agencies and within the guidelines established by the Board of Public Utilities.
Simulation exercises help prepare our workforce by requiring employees to assess and protect the safety of themselves, their colleagues and our customers while minimizing the impacts to our systems and service. These exercises are part of our continued efforts to enhance response protocols, partner with emergency responders and local officials and improve overall emergency response.
In addition to the Safety exercises listed above, the SJIU Emergency Preparedness Department provides training to Fire/EMT/Police First Responders to teach them about Natural Gas Safety. In 2021, 37 training sessions were held across the SJI Utility territory which was comprised of municipal paid and volunteer First Responders.
We encourage anyone who suspects a natural gas leak in any of our service areas to call our respective utility Gas Leak Hotlines. Through customer and community outreach, we encourage awareness among customers and local residents of our emergency contact information as well as the appropriate way to identify and respond to a potential leak.
| South Jersey Gas |
| Received 11,147 potential gas leak calls |
| Responded on average within 29 minutes |
| Elizabethtown Gas |
| Received 11,776 potential gas leak calls |
| Responded on average within 32 minutes |
Cybersecurity
SJI deploys cybersecurity systems using a defense-in-depth approach, continuously assessing, improving and strengthening our external and internal posture to identify and prevent attacks.
The SJI Information Security program deploys cybersecurity systems using a defense-in-depth approach, continuously assessing, improving, and strengthening our external and internal posture to identify and prevent attacks. Our cybersecurity efforts exemplify the way SJI conducts business in a manner that protects and sustains the safety and security of our customers and employees. We leverage relationships with government and industry peers in several cybersecurity programs to maintain situational awareness of threats and vulnerabilities on an ongoing basis. The SJI cybersecurity team holds certifications across industry-leading training partners, including ISC2, ISACA, GIAC, SANS, and EC-Council. Additionally, we educate employees regarding cybersecurity using yearly security awareness training, security bulletins, and phishing simulations to reinforce training. Across our organization, we conduct cyber incident response tabletop exercises, vulnerability scans, and penetration testing. We work with a third party to perform a yearly baseline assessment of the cyber program that measures improvement and informs our strategy. We have partnered with the Department of Homeland (DHS) Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) and other third parties to complete Validated Architecture Design Reviews (VADR) to assess and validate our technical and administrative controls. We also validate recovery procedures and system resiliency to ensure that, if impacted, we can return critical systems to normal operating levels in a timely manner. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework informs our cyber program, and we have a Cyber Risk Committee that consists of senior management responsible for assessing risks, including risks related to our cyber program. At each quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors, an overview of the cybersecurity program and related risks are discussed with the Board of Directors and Audit Committee.