Occupational
Health and Safety

We manage safety and environmental stewardship at Equitrans through our Zero Is Possible (ZIP) Today platform, driven by our safety and environmental teams with oversight from the Board’s Health, Safety, Sustainability and Environmental (HSSE) Committee. ZIP Today is the manifestation of our overriding belief that success is only realized when every contributor is safe and unharmed, and when we consistently strive for environmental excellence.

Since 2018, our commitment to the ZIP Today platform has been transformed into a way of life at Equitrans. The three safety subcommittees within our safety team — representing operations, construction, and office employees — developed an enhanced “way-of-life mentality” that is exhibited throughout our operations. In line with our corporate safety objectives, each committee developed and tailored safety target assignments for implementation across their respective areas. The basis for the transformation was our Incident with Serious Potential (ISP) concept, a risk-based system focused on precursors of incidents, near-misses, and observations. Identifying precursors enables us to build safety practices that help prevent accidents from occurring. In accordance with ZIP Today, it is also important that our contractors share our enthusiasm, philosophy, and “way-of-life mentality” toward safety and environmental excellence. Equitrans offers contractor awards to individuals, crews, and companies demonstrating exceptional safety and environmental performance.

Incident Investigation

For every safety-related incident or observation that transpires, regardless of whether an injury occurred, we carry out a comprehensive incident investigation and use the results to learn and improve. Our investigation process starts with a root cause analysis to identify the precursors that may have led to the incident’s occurrence. Typically, a front-line supervisor leads the investigation, with assistance from the safety and/or environmental teams, as well as experts who are familiar with the event and its circumstances, including expert, third-party service providers, as needed.

We also evaluate and identify solutions to prevent a similar incident from occurring. This process may involve multiple departments within Equitrans, as the corrective actions identified may encompass multiple functions within the work processes. For incidents where an injury does occur, we record the nature of the incident, as prescribed by the OSHA Injury/Illness Recordkeeping Guidelines. This record serves as another source of information for our incident investigations. We actively communicate each incident or observation across Equitrans and, more importantly, share the identified corrective actions as a method of education. Safety bulletins, alerts, and training materials are often available to supplement this communication.

Having informed, proactive employees is key to Equitrans’ safety culture. To achieve zero incidents, we depend on our employees to identify risks and take action to mitigate hazards, in addition to other health and safety protocols. We place a high value on safety training and education and are dedicated to providing our workers with the tools they require to do their jobs safely and effectively. Our approach is designed to empower workers to take control of their own safety, and we are committed to creating a safe and healthy work environment for everyone. In 2022, Equitrans employees completed 4,755 hours of safety education and training.

Equitrans also has specific safety education expectations for our contractors. Prior to starting work on any Equitrans site, all contractors and suppliers are required to review our contractor safety orientation video, which complements our overall safety practices, processes, and procedures and refreshes contractors on Equitrans’ many safety practices, including hazard identification, risk management, and the process for mitigating potential site hazards. Additionally, prior to beginning any work activities, contractors are required to attend a kick-off meeting that establishes our expectations, defines roles and responsibilities, and outlines the project’s emergency action plan and any potential hazards that may be present at the job site.

Equitrans diligently tracks numerous safety-related metrics to evaluate our safety performance. We continue to utilize the Intelex app, our health, safety, and quality management software application used to track our safety data, which was launched in February 2021. Intelex is deployed to the phones and mobile devices of all our employees, providing an easily accessible and effortless method to record our Equitrans-specific, proactive metrics, including:

As with previous years, proactive safety metrics continued to be incorporated into Equitrans’ Short-Term Incentive Plan (STIP), which aligns employee interests with those of our shareholders and the strategic objectives of our Company. By tracking and evaluating annual safety metrics and linking them to compensation, we can more effectively address any safety issues that may arise. The metrics enhance safety at our worksites and offices, help to identify opportunities for improvement, and enhance our overall safety culture.

The CSO metric encourages employees to report all safety observations and opportunities for improvement to help increase safety awareness across the Company.

In 2022, Equitrans made enhancements to the safety category of the STIP by introducing the Safety Proactivity Rate (SPR), which was designed to increase our focus on discovering potential safety hazards. The SPR increases when more observations, including OSPs, are submitted, and decreases when ISPs occur. To keep safety top of mind throughout the year, the SPR is reset quarterly. For our employees to receive the maximum payout, the SPR threshold for all four quarters of the calendar year must be achieved. By increasing our employees’ safety engagement, we are strengthening Equitrans’ safety culture and advancing best practices. Moreover, the increase in participation by both our field operations and office-based employees represents a fundamental shift in ownership — signifying that our team believes safety is everyone’s responsibility, not only that of the Company’s safety department.

Employee Safety Performance

As a result of our efforts to collect more robust safety data using the Intelex app, we received a total of 1,003 safety observations in 2022, which is an 18% increase compared to 2021. In addition, our focus on the SPR metric in 2022 contributed to a 73% increase in the number of departments using the Intelex app to report observations, resulting in greater opportunities for Equitrans to reduce risk and enhance the safety of our work environment. During the second quarter 2022, Equitrans achieved a Company record of 286 days without an ISP, which is likely the result of our employees’ diligence in reporting safety observations before an incident takes place.

Historically, the Company experiences a drop-off in safety observations during the fourth quarter, partly due to the holiday season. Resetting the SPR each quarter incentivized employees to break that trend, and observations remained consistent during the fourth quarter of 2022, as compared to the first three quarters of the year.

During 2022, employees submitted a total of 1,003 safety observations, an 18% increase year-over-year; and our new SPR metric contributed to a 73% increase in the number of departments using the Intelex app to report observations.

Equitrans also received two peer-to-peer observations in 2022, which showcased our workforce’s commitment to workplace safety. Peer-to-peer observations are one of the best avenues for influencing change and are top indicators for a world-class safety culture. Having our employees feel confident and comfortable in self-submitting peer-to-peer observations for safety improvements illustrates our culture of safety and trust.

In the past, safety observations were often considered to be only applicable to physical tasks in the field. In 2022, we had two OSPs reported from remote-working, office-based employees who observed actions that could lead to potential safety concerns for employees or contractors. These OPSs represented another meaningful step in giving all employees ownership of safety regardless of their typical work location. These OSPs further show that our workforce is proactive and is capable of recognizing potential hazards within our processes and systems.

In 2022, the focus on our proactive safety metrics also translated to an improvement for some of the backward-looking traditional safety metrics. Prior to the first days away, restricted or transferred (DART) injury case in 2022, our employees worked 1,798,882 hours without a single DART injury case reported. Equitrans experienced a DART rate reduction of 61% year-over-year, which is approximately four times better than the national average and 50% better than the industry average. In 2022, we began working to identify any potential emerging trends related to our total recordable incident rate (TRIR), which has shown an increase the past two years. The review indicated that, since 2019, the number of reportable incidents contributing to our TRIR has been generally consistent and has not deviated by more than one incident per year. It is important to note; however, there was a decrease in the number of serious injuries during this same time period, which indicates that our proactive approach to employee safety utilizing our ISP/OSP/CSO metrics is working as intended.

1) Includes information for 100% of the Eureka Midstream assets; excludes MVP and MVP Southgate projects

Safety at Home

Equitrans’ office-based employees have transitioned to a predominantly ‘remote’ workforce, with many team members working either fully or partially from home. Hence, our home and office safety team (HOST) has broadened its focus to comprise office-related initiatives, as well as home-focused programs. To expand and diversify the group's membership and garner new ideas to improve home and office safety, HOST refreshed its membership for 2022 to include field office representatives and additional, new members. HOST's 2022 initiatives included:

• Collaborating with the safety department to promote two virtual Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Automated External Defibrillator (CPR / AED) training sessions, which were open to all employees
• Coordinating with the safety department to develop an emergency preparedness plan to address potential emergencies that may impact employees who work at our Canonsburg office
• Communicating monthly safety memos via the Company’s intranet, including topics such as household hazardous waste, winter and summer safety, senior living safety, and travel safety
• Offering employees the selection of a home-focused safety gift, such as auto emergency kits, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, bike helmets, and life jackets, as a reminder that safety is a priority at work and at home

Before a contractor can begin work on any Equitrans project, they must first comply with all requirements of their Master Construction Services Agreement (MCSA) and be authorized by our supply chain team. The MCSA requires contractors to comply with all Company-specific health and safety standards, as well as any applicable site-specific safety plans, including any Company-published contractor safety protocols that may be provided. Our safety team uses the ISNetworld database to evaluate our contractors’ safety record to ensure results align with Equitrans’ safety standard. ISNetworld is an industry-recognized platform for the monitoring and evaluation of contractor safety performance and documentation. The ISNetworld database is used to evaluate all contractors in the following areas:

• Safety Management Systems
• Injury and Illness Statistics
• Written Safety Programs and Safety Training
• Experience Modification Rating
• Fatality History

Additionally, we fully integrated ZIP Today into ISNetworld criteria by requiring contractors to maintain a proactive safety culture focused on ISP precursors. This addition of ISPs into our reporting system is aimed to increase contractor accountability and safety awareness, which aligns with our culture of safety — above all else.

To ensure our job sites and teams remain safe, Equitrans’ contractors are held to the same standards as our employees, and every company that provides contractors for our projects must share our steadfast commitment to safety.

Equitrans continually works with contractors and ISNetworld to enhance our contractor management processes and practices. One change made during 2022 was to modify the frequency of which contractors are required to verify their ‘work type’ as assigned in ISNetworld. A contractor’s work type is what defines the specific training, practices, and procedures a contractor must have in place in order to perform a specific job function. Contractors initially select their work type based on the scope of work they will be performing for Equitrans, which, in turn, forms the basis for the contractor’s required safety programs and training. By requiring contractors to review and verify their work type verification on an annual basis, we are able to confidently assign contractors to the work activities for which they are best qualified — making our work sites safer for everyone.

Our 'contractor safe work rules’ outline Equitrans’ contractor qualifications and management standards for health and safety. All affiliated Equitrans contractors must undergo an ISNetworld rating, which is continuously reviewed and updated throughout the year. Contractors with a rating greater than ‘C’ are permitted to work on Equitrans job sites and facilities. If a contractor has a rating of ‘C’ or below, the contractor has 60 days to improve their rating to an ‘A’ or ‘B’ or submit an Improvement Plan. The Improvement Plan should be based on the deficiencies identified in their ISNetworld rating. If a contractor does not improve their rating to an ‘A’ or ‘B’ or does not submit an Improvement Plan within 60 days, they are no longer permitted to work at any Equitrans job site or facility.

Contractors are also required to meet the operator qualifications required by the PHMSA and complete federal Operational Qualification (OQ) training, dependent upon the scope of work.

Equitrans enhanced both our employees’ and contractors’ safety culture with the introduction of the Intelex app. The implementation of the Intelex app resulted in significantly improved safety observations, which, in turn, resulted in a reduction in ISPs and an increase in general safety awareness. Our health and safety approach is just one way we demonstrate our Core Values and protect our most important asset — our people. It is critical that we continually evaluate our safety performance so we can identify what we do well, what we can improve on, and most importantly, where we are able to enhance our strategies to keep employees and contractors safe. Accordingly, we continuously strive for improvement by evaluating and reviewing our policies and standard operating procedures.

We periodically perform internal audits of our safety program and related procedures and, based on the identified safety risks, recommend corrective actions. Further, a separate third-party consultant conducts routine audits of topic-specific procedures and programs, such as the lock-out/tag-out (LOTO) and industrial hygiene programs. In addition, we empower our employees to provide feedback on issues regarding occupational health and safety and the development of management methods. Employees can make recommendations on safety policies and standard operating procedures based on their own work experiences.

For 2022, Equitrans reported a DART rate reduction of 61% year-over-year, which is approximately four times better than the national average and 50% better than the industry average.

If an incident or observation occurs, we conduct an investigation process to identify the root cause. Our policies and procedures are amended in accordance with our findings, and we provide accompanying educational training to our workforce. Employees also engage in safety audits and assessments where they provide insight based on their first-hand knowledge of our operations.

2022 Safety Summary

In 2022, Equitrans employees achieved fewer ISPs and a lower DART rate and LTIR compared to 2021. In addition, we received two peer-to-peer observations, two remote work OSPs, and an increase in the number of safety observations. We believe these submissions are the result of our commitment to continually enhance and elevate our safety culture through proactive efforts, such as our ZIP Today platform; Companywide use of the Intelex app for reporting ISPs, OSPs, and CSOs; the modification of the STIP program to include the SPR; and routine HSE memos for all employees that report our progress and keep safety top-of-mind.

Although our contractors have continued to embrace our proactive approach to safety, we have seen a slight increase in the overall contractor ISP rate. For 2022, this rise can be attributed to a few outlying contractors that were responsible for nearly 50% of the overall rate. As a result, contractor supervision changes were implemented and additional corrective actions were taken, including establishing supervisor responsibility and success criteria. These improved work practices were also incorporated into Equitrans’ contractor safe work rules.

Equitrans is proud that the health and safety measures we have implemented continue to result in positive impacts to our overall safety culture and performance.

Year-Over-Year Safety Metrics Summary¹

1) Includes information for 100% of the Eureka Midstream assets; excludes MVP and MVP Southgate projects

2) Rate-based metrics are calculated based on OSHA’s formula (metrics multiplied by 200,000 hours and divided by total employee hours worked during the year)