Safety 2009 Proceedings

532 Case Study: Contractor Safety in the Petrochemical Industry

Instructor: Steven F. Witt, U.S. Department of Labor - OSHA, Washington, DC
Daniel J. Donovan, CSP, The Dow Chemical Company, Findlay, OH
Sean Gillilan, Valero Bill Greehey Refinery, Corpus Christi, TX
Armando Gonzalez, Jr., Wolfenson Electric, Inc., Clute, TX

Description: This session focuses on the efforts of petrochemical industry companies and their contractors to improve safety performance. Developed through the OSHA Alliance Program these efforts are applicable in a variety of work settings. Contractors at Dow Chemical Texas Operations worked to identify and address the safety related needs of its broad spectrum of contractor companies and to improve contractor safety performance. Valero Energy Corporation and their six resident contractors achieved Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) Star status. By participating in OSHA’s VPP, companies develop and implement comprehensive safety and health management systems, and achieve injury and illness rates below the national average. What Dow and contractor companies did to overcome resistance, eliminate redundancies in training, and reduce their recordable rate will be discussed.

Level: B