Karen Matusic | 202.682.8118 | matusick@api.org
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2009 – The American Petroleum Institute issued the following statement today on the Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA) comments on its refinery National Emphasis Program (NEP) inspections on process safety:
“The protection of our workers, our contractors and our neighbors is a 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. API member companies are committed to complying with the OSHA Process Safety Management regulations and are fully cooperating with OSHA during NEP inspections.
”U.S. refiners have maintained a strong safety record despite a challenging work environment that involves heavy equipment, hazardous materials, high temperatures and high pressure equipment. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a refinery employee is four to five times less likely to be injured on the job than employees in other manufacturing sectors. The injury rate has steadily decreased – including a decline of 16 percent since 1998 for job-related injuries and illnesses. Our industry has a lower injury rate than the broader manufacturing sector in worker safety – about 71 percent less than that of the US manufacturing sector as a whole.
“Refineries strive to eliminate hazards through rigorous process hazards analyses (PHA's) and aggressive closure of action items arising from those analyses. Any incident or near miss is thoroughly investigated and corrective actions are implemented to prevent recurrence. Refiners also take steps to ensure that process equipment is maintained and operated in a safe and reliable manner.
“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 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. To continue to improve our efforts on process safety, API is working with labor organizations, academia and other interested stakeholders to develop process safety performance metrics and fatigue risk management standards.”
Updated: June 11, 2009