Karen Matusic | 202-682-8118 | matusick@api.org
WASHINGTON, August 4, 2009 - The American Petroleum Institute issued the following statement today following the announcement by the United Steelworkers that they have ended their participation in important efforts that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board recommended be undertaken to improve the safety of workers in the industry.
“We regret that the United Steelworkers (USW) have decided to withdraw from the multi-stakeholder consensus building process, currently in its final stages, to develop two important industry safety standards to address worker fatigue management and process safety performance indicators. The protection of our workers, our contractors and our neighbors is the top priority for the oil and natural gas industry. API and its member companies believe it is important for the industry, the government and other stakeholders to work together to improve worker safety, including the completion of these two important safety standards pursuant to the recommendations from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
“The standards development process is being conducted in accordance with procedures approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as directed by the CSB. This effort brought together multi-stakeholder committees comprised of representatives from industry, labor, government, academia, consultants, engineering and construction and other trade associations. The USW was included at the inception of the outreach effort and was asked repeatedly to provide additional representatives to the committees. ANSI has regularly reviewed the standards development process and there have been no indications of any deficiencies in the way the effort is being managed. Likewise, the CSB has been briefed regularly on the progress of this work.
“Unfortunately, the USW is attempting to undermine a process aimed at improving worker safety. USW is trying to silence the voices of other stakeholders on the committee by making specific demands directly tied to their National Oil Bargaining Strategy. One example is a USW demand to write into the standard a specific numerical target for reductions in open shifts. While the members on the multi-stakeholder committee broadly support the concept of setting such targets, there is no support for putting a specific number into the standard because a “one-size-fits-all” approach will not work across the industry. The consensus of the committee is that open shift targets should be set at the site level and then progress made towards the targets is to be reviewed annually with key stakeholders, including representatives of the workforce.
“Process safety management is essential to the protection of employees, contractors and the communities in which API members operate. The industry invests significant resources to identify and correct hazards and to train our workforce on safe equipment operation, as well as proper inspection and maintenance procedures. API has developed and maintains more than 100 safe operating standards and safe work practices, many of which are cited in OSHA regulations.”
“The committees will continue their work to finalize these two important standards. We expect them to be issued later in 2009 after which implementation will begin.”
Updated: August 4, 2009