In March 2004, the American Petroleum Institute (API) joined the with OSHA and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The Steel Tank Institute/ Steel Plate Fabricators Association (STI/SPFA) joined the Alliance in 2006 and all three organizations continue to work together with OSHA to promote safe tank entry, cleaning, maintenance, and rescue operations through educational activities and outreach efforts to workers in the petroleum and petrochemical liquid storage industries. Workers include, but are not limited to tank owners and operators, tank maintenance and repair workers, tank contractors and rescue personnel.
The Safe Tank Alliance has produced a number of products and undertaken many activities, including the development of fact sheets on and . Representatives from API, NFPA and STI/SPFA serve on the editorial board of several OSHA Safety and Health Topics pages and eTool, providing OSHA with their expertise and technical review. Such topics include confined spaces; emergency preparedness and response; fall protection; fire safety; oil and gas well drilling, servicing and storage, as well as the Oil and Gas Well Drilling and Servicing eTool.
As part of the Alliance’s outreach efforts, the Safe Tank Alliance participants sponsored a Safe Tank Entry Seminar in June 2009 that was free of charge to the attendees. This was the third such seminar since the Alliance was formed in 2004.
Finally, another part of the Alliance’s outreach efforts has included joining with other Alliance Program participants to support North American Occupational Safety and Health (NAOSH) Week each May. The program focuses on increasing the understanding of the positive benefits of investing in occupational safety, health and environmental programs among employers, employees and the public; raising awareness of the role and contribution of safety, health and environmental professionals; and reducing workplace injuries and illness by encouraging new safety and health activities at all companies and organizations.
Perhaps the most important success of the Alliance Program and the Safe Tank Alliance is the paradigm shift in how the relationship between industry and government is perceived and is being recast as a model of partnership and collaboration. Slowly, the adversarial mindset is being replaced with a culture of cooperation where all parties realize the immense benefits of working together to advance workplace safety and health.
Process Safety Alliance
On January 28, 2008, the American Petroleum Institute (API) joined OSHA and seven other signatories in forming the . This Alliance is working to provide its members, small businesses and the public with process safety information, guidance and access to training resources. In addition to API, the signatories of the Alliance are the American Chemical Society (ACS); the American Chemistry Council (ACC); the Center for Chemical process Safety of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (CCPS); the Chlorine Institute; the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA); the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA); and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Process Safety Alliance members have contributed to the OSHA Safety and Health Topics pages on topics such as, Chemical Reactivity Hazards; Combustible Dust; and Process Safety Management.
![[logo: energyAPI]](/systemimages/common/api_logo.gif){kind=logo}
