La Porte Complex Earns OSHA Award for Safety

LyondellBasell’s La Porte complex received a safety award from OSHA, which noted its dedication to safety and health and an injury rate that is well below the national average.

The facility recently was recertified as a Star site under the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after a comprehensive audit of the site’s health and safety practices.

“I am pleased that the injury/illness rates remain below the national average,” wrote Acting Regional Administrator Willam A. Burke of OSHA in the formal notification to the plant of its successful recertification results. He noted that the site’s dedication to safety never wavered, even during the challenging situation of bankruptcy.

“(I) was particularly impressed with the site’s dedication to safety and health, including moving a unit control room during the corporation’s difficult time with bankruptcy,” Burke wrote.

The audit findings noted that the site continued to show significant improvement in its safety record since its last re-certification. The facility’s three-year injury and illness record from 2007 to 2009 had a 0.5 total case incident rate (TCIR) -- a significant 77 percent below the national average of 2.2, the audit noted.

The VPP was established in 1982 to recognize employers and employees who focus on the prevention of injuries, illnesses and fatalities through the implementation of effective safety and health management systems. It is a voluntary proactive program that requires a company to go above and beyond safety regulations. LyondellBasell’s La Porte complex first achieved VPP status in 2001 and two of the site’s resident contractor companies, Austin and Webb Murray, also are VPP certified. Austin recently achieved its VPP re-certification at the same time as LyondellBasell’s La Porte facility.

The “Star” designation is the highest level of recognition for exemplary occupational safety and health programs awarded by OSHA as part of the VPP. Maintaining this status requires periodic re-certification by OSHA that takes several days and involves an extensive audit of records and safety practices, plus interviews of employees and management. Currently, there are 2,263 federal and state VPP Star-certified participants out of 10 million eligible employers in the United States.

“If I had a choice between working at a VPP Star site or one that isn’t, I would pick the Star site,” said employee Matt Helton, chairman of the La Porte site’s VPP Committee. “Just meeting the program requirements means it’s a safer workplace than most, but to stay in the program you have to keep getting better.

“It is an employee-driven process and it cannot succeed without a lot of people spending a lot of time creating a safer workplace.”

LyondellBasell’s La Porte complex includes olefins, polymers and acetyls manufacturing processes. The olefins plant produces ethylene and propylene. Some of the ethylene is used in the polymer operations to make both linear low-density polyethylene and low-density polyethylene. The integrated chain of acetyls manufacturing units produces vinyl acetate monomer and is the world’s third-largest producer of glacial acetic acid. The site’s products are used by its customers in consumer goods such as textiles, plastic bottles, water-based paints, adhesives, paper coatings, toys, plastic bags, wire and cable insulation and food packaging. The 540-acre site has approximately 470 employees and contractors and is on Miller Cut-Off Road near the San Jacinto Monument in La Porte.