Nutrien’s Redwater site leads with safety to complete successful turnaround

Near the end of 2024, the team at our nitrogen facility in Redwater, Alberta successfully completed its planned turnaround. This scheduled maintenance event focused on improving the safety, reliability and operational efficiency of the site’s sulfuric acid plant and ammonium sulfate plant.

“Turnaround events have four key pillars: safety, quality, schedule and cost – in that order of importance,” says Mike Moreau, Turnaround Event Manager at Redwater. “As expected, there was great focus on safety and quality, ensuring we completed the necessary work to set our operation up for a safe and reliable production run until the next scheduled turnaround.”

In addition, the team executed a project in the ammonium sulfate plant during the turnaround that has excelled best-ever daily production totals.

“I am incredibly proud of the team for achieving yet another safe and successful turnaround,” says Ron Jennings, General Manager at Redwater. “These accomplishments are a testament to the dedication, tireless commitment and hard work of all site personnel.”

Safety first, always

From the outset, the Redwater team took a collaborative approach to prioritizing safety. They reinforced Nutrien’s Culture of Care by encouraging employees and contract partners to share open and honest feedback, which helped mitigate potential safety risks and achieve zero recordable injuries.

“The turnaround team talked at length about the importance of saying and doing the right things on day one to establish a safety benchmark for the entire event,” says Mike. “At the start of every shift, we emphasized safety as everyone’s most important goal and responsibility.”

Nutrien leaders and contractor supervisors also took to the field with a mission to build relationships with the workers and maintain positive morale. The leaders facilitated open dialogue, provided support for any roadblocks and reinforced their appreciation of everyone’s hard work and dedication to safety.

Further, there was a constant focus throughout the turnaround on mental health and wellness. The team discussed health and wellness at their daily toolbox meetings, performed wellness check-ins with the crews and supervisors and celebrated World Mental Health Day, which took place during the span of the turnaround.

Positive community impact

The turnaround had a positive impact on the community, generating more than 700 temporary contractor positions. This influx of workers helped boost local businesses in the surrounding area.

Further, bottles and cans were collected throughout the event and brought to a bottle depot, and the proceeds – nearly $3,000 – were donated to local foodbanks in the community.

Cross-company collaboration

The Redwater team collaborated with Nutrien’s Safety Leadership Coaches to provide effective training for leading contractor resources in field execution. There was overwhelmingly positive feedback about the value of this training during the turnaround, particularly highlighting the critical role that leaders play in upholding safe work expectations.

The site also worked closely with the Engineering, Technology and Capital (ETC) team in the development, planning and execution of the turnaround, and maintained frequent communication with the team at Nutrien’s Carseland nitrogen facility, whose turnaround was taking place at the same time.

“We were committed to working together and sharing contract resources as effectively as possible amongst the two facilities, and we also received support from other Nutrien sites in Alberta to help lead process mapping exercises and provide key leadership in the field during the event,” says Mike. “The successful outcome of the turnaround was made possible by the dedication and safe work of all our employees and contractors, and we take immense pride in our people and the exceptional results they delivered.”