Ready to respond

Devon prioritizes life safety and business continuity when incidents occur that could impact our employees, our assets, our business and the environment. We dedicate resources to emergency preparedness and follow nationally recognized standards for effective emergency management.

Our centralized corporate emergency management function leads Devon’s emergency response and recovery efforts for operational incidents, weather events, supply disruptions and other incidents. We follow the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Incident Management System (NIMS) to manage emergency response in cooperation with community agencies.

Training, drills and exercises

Devon provides in-house training, drills and exercises on the NIMS Incident Command System (ICS), and integrates best practices to be ready for timely, effective incident response. Our emergency management program leader is a certified Emergency Manager and ICS instructor, which strengthens our capabilities.

In 2022, Devon’s emergency management efforts expanded to address the risks and needs of our growing geographic footprint and increasingly complex operations. We continued to better integrate our digital security, physical security and field incident management teams to maintain proper response capabilities.

Devon will engage law enforcement, fire, emergency management and emergency medical services during incident management exercises as we continue to build relationships with first responders to keep people and property safe

Devon completed ten Basic Incident Management courses for field personnel and business unit leaders in all field operating areas and our Oklahoma City headquarters. Based on the findings of a 2021 technology audit, our 2022 incident management exercises focused on the impact of technology disruptions. At the request of the vice president of technology, leaders and field employees from multiple departments participated in a technology-related exercise in Oklahoma City. To further spread awareness, each field incident management training in 2022 included a tabletop exercise on how extended technology outages could affect field operations.

During the year, we also conducted a drill for spill response equipment deployment at our Abernathy recycled water treatment facility in Oklahoma, updated all field office emergency response plans, rewrote our aviation emergency response plan and updated the technology in our incident command center.

As part of our life safety efforts, Devon’s floor warden program works to establish occupant readiness in our office facilities. In 2022, we offered more life safety courses than in any previous year. These included cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), automated external defibrillator (AED) and first aid.

We also offered CPR training for employees’ family members, which in turn strengthens CPR skills and awareness in our communities. Devon introduced a Stop the Bleed (STB) course and gave each employee who completed the course a STB first aid pack for their vehicle, home, office or elsewhere.

We’re excited to implement Stop The Bleed training in all our field operating areas in 2023 in partnership with local first responders. We’ll also focus on conducting incident management training in all operating areas covering well control scenarios to drilling, completions, production and other teams that support local incident response.

Working with partners

Devon follows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Security Exercise and Evaluation Program, which allows us to provide community partners with documentation that validates their participation for federal funding and medical facility accreditation requirements.

We believe robust emergency management capabilities throughout industry and government contribute to community safety and security. Devon supports the head of our emergency management program in her role as the designated representative for the Oil and Natural Gas Subsector Coordinating Council, part of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council. The council comprises 16 critical infrastructure industries, including energy, transportation, and food and agriculture, that coordinate the private sector’s cooperative efforts to advance its critical infrastructure security, protection and resiliency mission. Devon’s involvement enhances our ability to manage risk and maintain business continuity by giving us early insights into emerging issues, pending laws and regulations, and other critical information. As our representative on the Permian Strategic Partnership’s (PSP) roads safety and healthcare committees, our emergency management lead also helps guide initiatives such as the Stop the Bleed campaign and other initiatives in communities in southeast New Mexico and west Texas.